Systems, Methods, and Devices for Utilizing Radar with Smart Devices

ABSTRACT

The various implementations described herein include methods, devices, and systems for determining locations of an electronic device. In one aspect, a method is performed at a computing system having one or more processors and memory. The method includes obtaining device identification information for the electronic device; broadcasting a request based on the device identification information that the electronic device be enabled to transmit or reflect location information using a radar technique; receiving a signal from the electronic device, the signal indicating a location of the electronic device using a radar technique; and determining the location of the electronic device based on the received signal.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/485,127, filed Apr. 11, 2017, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/336,515, filed May 13, 2016, entitled“Systems, Methods, and Devices for Utilizing Radar with Smart Devices,”U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/442,343, filed Jan. 4, 2017,entitled “Systems, Methods, and Devices for Utilizing Radar with SmartDevices,” U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/438,397, filed Dec. 22,2016, entitled “Systems, Methods, and Devices for Utilizing Radar-basedTouch Interfaces,” and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/455,449,filed Feb. 6, 2017, entitled “Systems, Methods, and Devices forUtilizing Radar with Smart Devices,” each of which is hereby expresslyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This relates generally to radar technology, including but not limited tomethods and systems for utilizing radar positioning data as a means ofcommunication between smart devices.

BACKGROUND

Devices in a smart home environment include a host of circuit componentsand interfaces for enabling communications with other systems, devices,and/or servers. Some smart devices include multiple radios within acompact area for receiving and transmitting signals on variouswavelengths to other devices and across networks. For example, somesmart devices gather information and/or communicate via radar.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, there is a need for methods, apparatuses, and systems formanaging radar usage and communications. Various implementations ofsystems, methods and devices within the scope of the appended claimseach have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsiblefor the attributes described herein. Without limiting the scope of theappended claims, after considering this disclosure, and particularlyafter considering the section entitled “Detailed Description” one willunderstand how the aspects of various implementations are used to manageradar with smart devices. In one aspect, an electronic tag includes afirst circuit configured to communicate with one or more other devicesat a first frequency and a second circuit configured to communicate withthe one or more other devices via radar.

Electronic tags are useful in tracking the location and movement ofobjects and entities. The tags can be configured to emit a unique radarsignal, which is used by a control device to determine the locationand/or movement of the tag. This allows the control device to bettermonitor the object or entity to which the tag is affixed. For example, atag may be affixed to a door or window and configured to emit a radarsignal in response to slight movement of the door/window. The controldevice receives the radar signal and uses the location and movementinformation to characterize the movement (e.g., determine whether thedoor/window is opening or closing). In security system implementations,the control device may generate an alert regarding the movement of thedoor or window. As another example the control device may detect asubtle movement of an object, such as a door or window, then requestthat a tag affixed to that object emit a radar signal. The controldevice can then use the signal from the tag to better characterize thesubtle movement of the object.

Electronic tags may also be used to denote the boundaries for amonitored area. For example, a control device is set to monitor aparticular apartment within an apartment complex. The use of electronictags on walls, ceilings, and/or floors enables the control device todetermine the boundaries of the apartment and disregard any activitydetected beyond those boundaries.

In one aspect, a method is performed at a computing system (e.g., acontrol device) having one or more processors and memory. The methodincludes: (1) obtaining registration information for a plurality ofelectronic devices (e.g., electronic tags); (2) transmitting, via afirst communication channel, a request based on the registrationinformation that a particular electronic device of the plurality ofelectronic devices transmit via a radar channel; (3) receiving, via theradar channel, a signal from the particular electronic device; and (4)determining a location of the particular electronic device based on thereceived signal.

In another aspect, a method is performed at an electronic tag having oneor more processors and memory. The method includes: (1) receiving, via afirst communication channel, a request to transmit via a radar channel,the request comprising device identification information; (2)determining whether the received device identification informationmatches device identification information for the electronic tag, wherethe device identification information for the electronic tag is storedat the tag; and (3) in accordance with a determination that the receiveddevice identification information matches the device identificationinformation for the electronic tag, causing a signal to be transmittedvia the radar channel.

In some implementations, an electronic tag (also sometimes called alocation tag or location beacon) is used to submit a unique signature toa radar subsystem. In some implementations, the signature is encoded bysending a unique signature on the same frequency band as the radarsystem.

Radar systems detect the presence, direction, distance, and/or speed ofobjects. Radar presents advantages over other detection systems, such aspassive infrared (PIR) motion sensors. Radar systems detect a wide rangeof velocities and thus can differentiate between different objects inmotion. For example, radar systems can distinguish between pets andpersons in a home. In addition, radar systems can detect whether anobject is moving toward the radar system or away (or tangential). Radarsystems are capable of detecting minute human movements, such as aheartbeat. Also, in comparison to convention heat detection systems, itis more difficult to evade detection in a radar system. For example, aheavy winter coat may be sufficient to evade detection in some heatdetection systems.

In regards to PIR sensors, generally radar systems can detect objectsfurther away than PIR sensors. Moreover, radar systems do not need alens and have a wider field of view than PIR sensors. Radar systems aregenerally less sensitive to heat than PIR sensors. For example, PIRsensors can trigger false positives due to heating, via sunlight oroperation of surrounding components.

Radar systems are also capable of penetrating walls and other objects.Thus, a radar system can monitor multiple rooms in a dwelling and detectmovement behind various objects in the dwelling. Therefore, radarsystems are capable of communicating between rooms and through objects.Radar systems are also capable of detecting and interpreting particulargestures.

Unlike conventional camera systems, radar systems operate withoutregards to the level of visible light in a room or dwelling. Inaddition, radar systems can be configured to consume less power byadjusting a duty cycle and/or sending out brief pulses at set intervals.

A radar system may be one-dimensional (1D) or multi-dimensional. Aone-dimensional radar consists of 1 transmitter and 1 receiver. Amulti-dimensional radar includes a plurality of transmitters and/or aplurality of receivers (e.g., 3 transmitters and 4 receivers).

A radar system can be used for multiple purposes, including proximitydetection, occupancy determinations, people counts, locationdeterminations, single-person respiration monitoring, classification ofmotion events, multi-person respiration monitoring, single-personidentification, and multi-person identification. For some purposes, suchas proximity and/or single-person respiration monitoring, 1D radarsystems can be as effective (or nearly as effective) asmulti-dimensional radar systems. For other purposes, such as locationdeterminations and multi-person respiration monitoring,multi-dimensional radar systems provide significantly more precisionand/or accuracy. In some implementations, a plurality of 1D radarsystems are networked together to provide precision and accuracy as goodas, or better, than a single multi-dimensional radar system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the various described implementations,reference should be made to the Description of Implementations below, inconjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numeralsrefer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.

FIG. 1 is an example smart home environment, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example network architecturethat includes a smart home network, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network-level view of an extensible devices andservices platform with which the smart home environment of FIG. 1 isintegrated, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 4 illustrates an abstracted functional view of the extensibledevices and services platform of FIG. 3, with reference to a processingengine as well as devices of the smart home environment, in accordancewith some implementations.

FIG. 5 is a representative operating environment in which a serversystem interacts with client devices and hub devices communicativelycoupled to local smart devices, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a representative hub device, inaccordance with some implementations.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a representative server system,in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a representative client deviceassociated with a user account, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 9A is a block diagram illustrating a representative smart device,in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 9B is a block diagram illustrating a representative electronic tag,in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 10A illustrates an environment and system for communicating viaradar signals, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 10B illustrates a representative system and process for utilizingradar tags, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 10C illustrates a representative system and process for utilizing aradar tag, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 10D is a prophetic diagram of radar data, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIGS. 11A-11C are flowcharts illustrating a method for utilizing radarcommunications, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating another method for utilizing radarcommunications, in accordance with some implementations.

Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF IMPLEMENTATIONS

Reference will now be made in detail to implementations, examples ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the followingdetailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the various describedimplementations. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skillin the art that the various described implementations may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods,procedures, components, circuits, and networks have not been describedin detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of theimplementations.

FIG. 1 is an example smart home environment 100 in accordance with someimplementations. Smart home environment 100 includes a structure 150(e.g., a house, office building, garage, or mobile home) with variousintegrated devices. It will be appreciated that devices may also beintegrated into a smart home environment 100 that does not include anentire structure 150, such as an apartment, condominium, or officespace. Further, the smart home environment 100 may control and/or becoupled to devices outside of the actual structure 150. Indeed, severaldevices in the smart home environment 100 need not be physically withinthe structure 150. For example, a device controlling a pool heater 114or irrigation system 116 may be located outside of the structure 150.

The depicted structure 150 includes a plurality of rooms 152, separatedat least partly from each other via walls 154. The walls 154 may includeinterior walls or exterior walls. Each room may further include a floor156 and a ceiling 158. Devices may be mounted on, affixed to, integratedwith and/or supported by a wall 154, floor 156 or ceiling 158. In someimplementations, electronic tags are affixed to a wall 154, floor 156,ceiling 158, window, or door.

In some implementations, the integrated devices of the smart homeenvironment 100 include intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connecteddevices that integrate seamlessly with each other in a smart homenetwork (e.g., 202 FIG. 2) and/or with a central server or acloud-computing system to provide a variety of useful smart homefunctions. The smart home environment 100 may include one or moreintelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected thermostats 102(hereinafter referred to as “smart thermostats 102”), one or moreintelligent, network-connected, multi-sensing hazard detection units 104(hereinafter referred to as “smart hazard detectors 104”), one or moreintelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected entryway interface devices106 and 120 (e.g., “smart doorbells 106” and “smart door locks 120”),and one or more intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected alarmsystems 122 (hereinafter referred to as “smart alarm systems 122”).

In some implementations, the one or more smart thermostats 102 detectambient climate characteristics (e.g., temperature and/or humidity) andcontrol a HVAC system 103 accordingly. For example, a respective smartthermostat 102 includes an ambient temperature sensor.

The one or more smart hazard detectors 104 may include thermal radiationsensors directed at respective heat sources (e.g., a stove, oven, otherappliances, a fireplace, etc.). For example, a smart hazard detector 104in a kitchen 153 includes a thermal radiation sensor directed at astove/oven 112. A thermal radiation sensor may determine the temperatureof the respective heat source (or a portion thereof) at which it isdirected and may provide corresponding blackbody radiation data asoutput.

The smart doorbell 106 and/or the smart door lock 120 may detect aperson's approach to or departure from a location (e.g., an outer door),control doorbell/door locking functionality (e.g., receive user inputsfrom a portable electronic device 166-1 to actuate bolt of the smartdoor lock 120), announce a person's approach or departure via audio orvisual means, and/or control settings on a security system (e.g., toactivate or deactivate the security system when occupants go and come).

The smart alarm system 122 may detect the presence of an individualwithin close proximity (e.g., using built-in IR sensors), sound an alarm(e.g., through a built-in speaker, or by sending commands to one or moreexternal speakers), and send notifications to entities or userswithin/outside of the smart home network 100. In some implementations,the smart alarm system 122 also includes one or more input devices orsensors (e.g., keypad, biometric scanner, NFC transceiver, microphone)for verifying the identity of a user, and one or more output devices(e.g., display, speaker). In some implementations, the smart alarmsystem 122 may also be set to an “armed” mode, such that detection of atrigger condition or event causes the alarm to be sounded unless adisarming action is performed.

In some implementations, the smart home environment 100 includes one ormore intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected wall switches 108(hereinafter referred to as “smart wall switches 108”), along with oneor more intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected wall pluginterfaces 110 (hereinafter referred to as “smart wall plugs 110”). Thesmart wall switches 108 may detect ambient lighting conditions, detectroom-occupancy states, and control a power and/or dim state of one ormore lights. In some instances, smart wall switches 108 may also controla power state or speed of a fan, such as a ceiling fan. The smart wallplugs 110 may detect occupancy of a room or enclosure and control supplyof power to one or more wall plugs (e.g., such that power is notsupplied to the plug if nobody is at home).

In some implementations, the smart home environment 100 of FIG. 1includes a plurality of intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connectedappliances 112 (hereinafter referred to as “smart appliances 112”), suchas refrigerators, stoves, ovens, televisions, washers, dryers, lights,stereos, intercom systems, garage-door openers, floor fans, ceilingfans, wall air conditioners, pool heaters, irrigation systems, securitysystems, space heaters, window AC units, motorized duct vents, and soforth. In some implementations, when plugged in, an appliance mayannounce itself to the smart home network, such as by indicating whattype of appliance it is, and it may automatically integrate with thecontrols of the smart home. Such communication by the appliance to thesmart home may be facilitated by either a wired or wirelesscommunication protocol. The smart home may also include a variety ofnon-communicating legacy appliances 140, such as old conventionalwasher/dryers, refrigerators, and the like, which may be controlled bysmart wall plugs 110. The smart home environment 100 may further includea variety of partially communicating legacy appliances 142, such asinfrared (“IR”) controlled wall air conditioners or other IR-controlleddevices, which may be controlled by IR signals provided by the smarthazard detectors 104 or the smart wall switches 108.

In some implementations, the smart home environment 100 includes one ormore network-connected cameras 118 that are configured to provide videomonitoring and security in the smart home environment 100. The cameras118 may be used to determine occupancy of the structure 150 and/orparticular rooms 152 in the structure 150, and thus may act as occupancysensors. For example, video captured by the cameras 118 may be processedto identify the presence of an occupant in the structure 150 (e.g., in aparticular room 152). Specific individuals may be identified based, forexample, on their appearance (e.g., height, face) and/or movement (e.g.,their walk/gait). The cameras 118 optionally include one or more sensors(e.g., IR sensors, radar systems, motion detectors), input devices(e.g., microphone for capturing audio), and output devices (e.g.,speaker for outputting audio).

The smart home environment 100 may additionally or alternatively includeone or more other occupancy sensors (e.g., the smart doorbell 106, smartdoor locks 120, touch screens, IR sensors, microphones, ambient lightsensors, motion detectors, smart nightlights 170, etc.). In someimplementations, the smart home environment 100 includes radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) readers (e.g., in each room 152 or a portionthereof) that determine occupancy based on RFID tags located on orembedded in occupants. For example, RFID readers may be integrated intothe smart hazard detectors 104.

The smart home environment 100 may also include communication withdevices outside of the physical home but within a proximate geographicalrange of the home. For example, the smart home environment 100 mayinclude a pool heater monitor 114 that communicates a current pooltemperature to other devices within the smart home environment 100and/or receives commands for controlling the pool temperature.Similarly, the smart home environment 100 may include an irrigationmonitor 116 that communicates information regarding irrigation systemswithin the smart home environment 100 and/or receives controlinformation for controlling such irrigation systems.

In some implementations, the smart home environment 100 includes one ormore electronic tags that are configured to communicate with one or moresmart devices via radar. In some implementations, the electronic tagsare affixed to an object such as a window, door, or wall and areconfigured to impart a radar signature for the object. In someimplementations, the electronic tags are affixed to an entity, such as apet, and are configured to impart a radar signature for the entity. Insome implementations, the electronic tags are configured to communicatevia multiple wavelengths and/or protocols. For example a particularelectronic tag is configured to communicate via RFID as well as viaradar. In some implementations, a smart device, such as any of the smartdevices discussed previously, includes a radar module for detecting thepresence, direction, distance, and/or speed of objects, by sending outpulses of high-frequency electromagnetic waves that are reflected offthe object back to the source. In some implementations, a smart devicefurther includes a communications module, distinct from the radarmodule, for communicating with other smart devices and/or the electronictags (e.g., via RFID, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the like).

By virtue of network connectivity, one or more of the smart home devicesof FIG. 1 may further allow a user to interact with the device even ifthe user is not proximate to the device. For example, a user maycommunicate with a device using a computer (e.g., a desktop computer,laptop computer, or tablet) or other portable electronic device 166(e.g., a mobile phone, such as a smart phone). A webpage or applicationmay be configured to receive communications from the user and controlthe device based on the communications and/or to present informationabout the device's operation to the user. For example, the user may viewa current set point temperature for a device (e.g., a stove) and adjustit using a computer. The user may be in the structure during this remotecommunication or outside the structure.

As discussed above, users may control smart devices in the smart homeenvironment 100 using a network-connected computer or portableelectronic device 166. In some examples, some or all of the occupants(e.g., individuals who live in the home) may register their device 166with the smart home environment 100. Such registration may be made at acentral server to authenticate the occupant and/or the device as beingassociated with the home and to give permission to the occupant to usethe device to control the smart devices in the home. An occupant may usetheir registered device 166 to remotely control the smart devices of thehome, such as when the occupant is at work or on vacation. The occupantmay also use their registered device to control the smart devices whenthe occupant is actually located inside the home, such as when theoccupant is sitting on a couch inside the home. It should be appreciatedthat instead of or in addition to registering devices 166, the smarthome environment 100 may make inferences about which individuals live inthe home and are therefore occupants and which devices 166 areassociated with those individuals. As such, the smart home environmentmay “learn” who is an occupant and permit the devices 166 associatedwith those individuals to control the smart devices of the home.

In some implementations, in addition to containing processing andsensing capabilities, devices 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116,118, 120, and/or 122 (collectively referred to as “the smart devices”)are capable of data communications and information sharing with othersmart devices, a central server or cloud-computing system, and/or otherdevices that are network-connected. Data communications may be carriedout using any of a variety of custom or standard wireless protocols(e.g., IEEE 802.15.4, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Thread, Z-Wave, BluetoothSmart, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, MiWi, etc.) and/or any of a variety ofcustom or standard wired protocols (e.g., Ethernet, HomePlug, etc.), orany other suitable communication protocol, including communicationprotocols not yet developed as of the filing date of this document.

In some implementations, the smart devices communicate via radarpositioning data. In some implementations, the smart devices communicatewith one or more electronic tags via radar. In some implementations, thesmart devices communicate with one another and/or with electronic tagsusing a plurality of communication channels, such as RFID, Wi-Fi,Bluetooth, and radar. As used herein, communicating via radar includestransmitting and analyzing positioning information. For example, a firstdevice communicates via radar by modulating incoming radio signals in apredefined manner to produce one or more phantom velocities. A seconddevice determines positioning of the first device (e.g., relativelocation and velocity) by analyzing the modulated signals (e.g., thephantom velocities) in accordance with radar positioning techniques(also sometimes called radar processing techniques). In someimplementations, the radar positioning techniques include analyzingtime-of-flight of radar signals, analyzing phase shift of the radarsignals, and/or analyzing Doppler frequency shifts of the radar signals.In accordance with some implementations, the second device obtains apreset phantom velocity for the first device. The second device thenprocesses the radar signals to: (1) identify the modulated signals fromfirst device; (2) remove the preset phantom velocity from the modulatedsignals; and (3) identify the first device's relative location andvelocity. In some implementations, the smart devices communicate via oneor more radio frequency bands, such as 3-10 GHz, 24-24.5 GHz, 57-64 GHz,and/or 77-81 GHz. In some implementations, the smart devices utilize(e.g., temporarily repurpose) one or more existing radios for radarpurposes. For example, the smart devices utilize radio(s) configured forWi-Fi, Bluetooth, or the like, for radar positioning purposes. In someimplementations, a smart device utilizes a particular radio for wirelesscommunication implementing one or more communication protocols (e.g.,Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) and for radar positioning purposes. In someimplementations, the communicating via the radar channel comprisesutilizing frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar, phasemodulated continuous wave (PMCW) radar, step continuous wave radar, orthe like.

In some implementations, the smart devices utilizing one or more otherdistancing technologies, such as Time-of-Arrival (TOA),Time-Difference-of-Arrival (TDOA), Received-Signal-Strength-Indication(RSSI), Near-Field-Electromagnetic-Ranging (NFER), and/orAngle-Of-Arrival (AOA). In some implementations, the smart devicesutilize both radar system(s) and one or more of other distancingsystems. In some implementations, the smart devices utilize one or moreother distancing systems to perform the method(s) described herein withreference to radar systems.

In some implementations, the smart devices serve as wireless or wiredrepeaters. In some implementations, a first one of the smart devicescommunicates with a second one of the smart devices via a wirelessrouter. The smart devices may further communicate with each other via aconnection (e.g., network interface 160) to a network, such as theInternet 162. Through the Internet 162, the smart devices maycommunicate with a smart home provider server system 164 (also called acentral server system and/or a cloud-computing system herein). The smarthome provider server system 164 may be associated with a manufacturer,support entity, or service provider associated with the smart device(s).In some implementations, a user is able to contact customer supportusing a smart device itself rather than needing to use othercommunication means, such as a telephone or Internet-connected computer.In some implementations, software updates are automatically sent fromthe smart home provider server system 164 to smart devices (e.g., whenavailable, when purchased, or at routine intervals).

In some implementations, the network interface 160 includes aconventional network device (e.g., a router), and the smart homeenvironment 100 of FIG. 1 includes a hub device 180 that iscommunicatively coupled to the network(s) 162 directly or via thenetwork interface 160. The hub device 180 is further communicativelycoupled to one or more of the above intelligent, multi-sensing,network-connected devices (e.g., smart devices of the smart homeenvironment 100). Each of these smart devices optionally communicateswith the hub device 180 using one or more radio communication networksavailable at least in the smart home environment 100 (e.g., ZigBee,Z-Wave, Insteon, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other radio communicationnetworks). In some implementations, the hub device 180 and devicescoupled with/to the hub device can be controlled and/or interacted withvia an application (sometimes called a smart home application) runningon a smart phone, household controller, laptop, tablet computer, gameconsole or similar electronic device. In some implementations, a user ofsuch controller application can view status of the hub device or coupledsmart devices, configure the hub device to interoperate with smartdevices newly introduced to the home network, commission new smartdevices, and adjust or view settings of connected smart devices, etc. Insome implementations the hub device extends capabilities of lowcapability smart device to match capabilities of the highly capablesmart devices of the same type, integrates functionality of multipledifferent device types—even across different communication protocols,and is configured to streamline adding of new devices and commissioningof the hub device. In some implementations, hub device 180 furthercomprises a local storage device for storing data related to, or outputby, smart devices of smart home environment 100. In someimplementations, the data includes one or more of: video data output bya camera device, metadata output by a smart device, settings informationfor a smart device, usage logs for a smart device, and the like.

In some implementations, smart home environment 100 includes a localstorage device for storing data related to, or output by, smart devicesof smart home environment 100. In some implementations, the dataincludes one or more of: video data output by a camera device (e.g.,camera 118), metadata output by a smart device, settings information fora smart device, usage logs for a smart device, and the like. In someimplementations, the local storage device is communicatively coupled toone or more smart devices via a smart home network (e.g., smart homenetwork 202, FIG. 2). In some implementations, the local storage deviceis selectively coupled to one or more smart devices via a wired and/orwireless communication network. In some implementations, the localstorage device is used to store video data when external networkconditions are poor. For example, the local storage device is used whenan encoding bitrate of camera 118 exceeds the available bandwidth of theexternal network (e.g., network(s) 162). In some implementations, thelocal storage device temporarily stores video data from one or morecameras (e.g., camera 118) prior to transferring the video data to aserver system (e.g., server system 508, FIG. 5). In someimplementations, the local storage device is a component of a cameradevice. In some implementations, each camera device includes a localstorage. In some implementations, the local storage device performs someor all of the data processing described below with respect to serversystem 508 (FIG. 7). In some implementations, the local storage devicestores some or all of the data described below with respect to serversystem 508, such as data storage database 7160, account database 7162,device information database 7164, and event information database 7166.In some implementations, the local storage device performs some or allof the operations described herein with respect to the server system508.

It is to be appreciated that “smart home environments” may refer tosmart environments for homes such as a single-family house, but thescope of the present teachings is not so limited. The present teachingsare also applicable, without limitation, to duplexes, townhomes,multi-unit apartment buildings, hotels, retail stores, office buildings,industrial buildings or other structures, and more generally any livingspace or work space.

It is also to be appreciated that while the terms user, customer,installer, homeowner, occupant, guest, tenant, landlord, repair person,and the like may be used to refer to the person or persons acting in thecontext of some particularly situations described herein, thesereferences do not limit the scope of the present teachings with respectto the person or persons who are performing such actions. Thus, forexample, the terms user, customer, purchaser, installer, subscriber, andhomeowner may often refer to the same person in the case of asingle-family residential dwelling, because the head of the household isoften the person who makes the purchasing decision, buys the unit, andinstalls and configures the unit, and is also one of the users of theunit. However, in other scenarios, such as a landlord-tenantenvironment, the customer may be the landlord with respect to purchasingthe unit, the installer may be a local apartment supervisor, a firstuser may be the tenant, and a second user may again be the landlord withrespect to remote control functionality. Importantly, while the identityof the person performing the action may be germane to a particularadvantage provided by one or more of the implementations, such identityshould not be construed in the descriptions that follow as necessarilylimiting the scope of the present teachings to those particularindividuals having those particular identities.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example network architecture200 that includes a smart home network 202 in accordance with someimplementations. In some implementations, the smart devices 204 in thesmart home environment 100 (e.g., devices 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112,114, 116, 118, 120, and/or 122) combine with the hub device 180 tocreate a mesh network in smart home network 202. In someimplementations, one or more smart devices 204 in the smart home network202 operate as a smart home controller. Additionally and/oralternatively, hub device 180 operates as the smart home controller. Insome implementations, a smart home controller has more computing powerthan other smart devices. In some implementations, a smart homecontroller processes inputs (e.g., from smart devices 204, electronicdevice 166, and/or smart home provider server system 164) and sendscommands (e.g., to smart devices 204 in the smart home network 202) tocontrol operation of the smart home environment 100. In someimplementations, some of the smart devices 204 in the smart home network202 (e.g., in the mesh network) are “spokesman” nodes (e.g., 204-1) andothers are “low-powered” nodes (e.g., 204-9). Some of the smart devicesin the smart home environment 100 are battery powered, while others havea regular and reliable power source, such as by connecting to wiring(e.g., to 120V line voltage wires) behind the walls 154 of the smarthome environment. The smart devices that have a regular and reliablepower source are referred to as “spokesman” nodes. These nodes aretypically equipped with the capability of using a wireless protocol tofacilitate bidirectional communication with a variety of other devicesin the smart home environment 100, as well as with the smart homeprovider server system 164. In some implementations, one or more“spokesman” nodes operate as a smart home controller. On the other hand,the devices that are battery powered are the “low-power” nodes. Thesenodes tend to be smaller than spokesman nodes and typically onlycommunicate using wireless protocols that require very little power,such as Zigbee, 6LoWPAN, radar, etc.

In some implementations, some low-power nodes are incapable ofbidirectional communication. These low-power nodes send messages, butthey are unable to “listen”. Thus, other devices in the smart homeenvironment 100, such as the spokesman nodes, cannot send information tothese low-power nodes. In some implementations, some low-power nodes arecapable of only a limited bidirectional communication. For example,other devices are able to communicate with the low-power nodes onlyduring a certain time period.

As described, in some implementations, the smart devices serve aslow-power and spokesman nodes to create a mesh network in the smart homeenvironment 100. In some implementations, individual low-power nodes inthe smart home environment regularly send out messages regarding whatthey are sensing, and the other low-powered nodes in the smart homeenvironment—in addition to sending out their own messages—forward themessages, thereby causing the messages to travel from node to node(i.e., device to device) throughout the smart home network 202. In someimplementations, the spokesman nodes in the smart home network 202,which are able to communicate using a relatively high-powercommunication protocol, such as IEEE 802.11, are able to switch to arelatively low-power communication protocol, such as IEEE 802.15.4, toreceive these messages, translate the messages to other communicationprotocols, and send the translated messages to other spokesman nodesand/or the smart home provider server system 164 (using, e.g., therelatively high-power communication protocol). Thus, the low-powerednodes using low-power communication protocols are able to send and/orreceive messages across the entire smart home network 202, as well asover the Internet 162 to the smart home provider server system 164. Insome implementations, the mesh network enables the smart home providerserver system 164 to regularly receive data from most or all of thesmart devices in the home, make inferences based on the data, facilitatestate synchronization across devices within and outside of the smarthome network 202, and send commands to one or more of the smart devicesto perform tasks in the smart home environment.

As described, the spokesman nodes and some of the low-powered nodes arecapable of “listening.” Accordingly, users, other devices, and/or thesmart home provider server system 164 may communicate control commandsto the low-powered nodes. For example, a user may use the electronicdevice 166 (e.g., a smart phone) to send commands over the Internet tothe smart home provider server system 164, which then relays thecommands to one or more spokesman nodes in the smart home network 202.The spokesman nodes may use a low-power protocol to communicate thecommands to the low-power nodes throughout the smart home network 202,as well as to other spokesman nodes that did not receive the commandsdirectly from the smart home provider server system 164.

In some implementations, a smart nightlight 170 (FIG. 1), which is anexample of a smart device 204, is a low-power node. In addition tohousing a light source, the smart nightlight 170 houses an occupancysensor, such as an ultrasonic or passive IR sensor, and an ambient lightsensor, such as a photo resistor or a single-pixel sensor that measureslight in the room. In some implementations, the smart nightlight 170 isconfigured to activate the light source when its ambient light sensordetects that the room is dark and when its occupancy sensor detects thatsomeone is in the room. In other implementations, the smart nightlight170 is simply configured to activate the light source when its ambientlight sensor detects that the room is dark. Further, in someimplementations, the smart nightlight 170 includes a low-power wirelesscommunication chip (e.g., a ZigBee chip) that regularly sends outmessages regarding the occupancy of the room and the amount of light inthe room, including instantaneous messages coincident with the occupancysensor detecting the presence of a person in the room. As mentionedabove, these messages may be sent wirelessly (e.g., using the meshnetwork) from node to node (i.e., smart device to smart device) withinthe smart home network 202 as well as over the Internet 162 to the smarthome provider server system 164.

Other examples of low-power nodes include battery-operated versions ofthe smart hazard detectors 104. These smart hazard detectors 104 areoften located in an area without access to constant and reliable powerand may include any number and type of sensors, such as smoke/fire/heatsensors (e.g., thermal radiation sensors), carbon monoxide/dioxidesensors, occupancy/motion sensors, ambient light sensors, ambienttemperature sensors, humidity sensors, and the like. Furthermore, smarthazard detectors 104 optionally send messages that correspond to each ofthe respective sensors to the other devices and/or the smart homeprovider server system 164, such as by using the mesh network asdescribed above.

Examples of spokesman nodes include smart doorbells 106, smartthermostats 102, smart wall switches 108, and smart wall plugs 110.These devices are often located near and connected to a reliable powersource, and therefore may include more power-consuming components, suchas one or more communication chips capable of bidirectionalcommunication in a variety of protocols.

In some implementations, the smart home environment includes electronictags 206, such as the electronic tag 206-1 and the electronic tag 206-2.In some implementations, the electronic tags 206 are low-power nodes inthe smart home network 202. In some implementations, the electronic tags206 are not connected to an external power source. In someimplementations, the electronic tags 206 are battery-powered. In someimplementations, an electronic tag (e.g., electronic tag 206-1) iscapable of harvesting energy for use in operating the tag. For example,harvesting thermal, vibrational, electromagnetic, and/or solar energyreceived by the electronic tag.

In some implementations, electronic tags 206 are capable of “listening”on a first communication channel (e.g., an RFID channel), but notsending messages. In some implementations, electronic tags 206 arepassive radar devices. Passive radar devices comprise radar devices thatdo not have a dedicated transmitter.

Passive radar devices include corner reflector devices and printed radardevices. Corner reflector devices are generally used to generate astrong radar echo from objects that would otherwise have only very loweffective radar cross section (RCS). A corner reflector includes two ormore electrically conductive surfaces that are mounted crosswise (e.g.,at an angle of exactly 90 degrees). Incoming electromagnetic waves arebackscattered by multiple reflection accurately in that direction fromwhich they come. Thus, even small objects with small RCS yield a strongecho.

In some implementations, printed radar reflectors comprise simplealuminum fibers that form half-wave resonators within the object to betracked (e.g., a piece of paper). The radar-reflecting fibers areapproximately the same diameter as paper fibers (typically 6.5 mm longand 1.5 μm in diameter). Randomly oriented radar-reflecting fibersprovide a unique backscatter pattern that can be read and stored in adatabase for future identification. Ordered patterns can also bedesigned so that individual resonators are coupled or decoupled,whatever is likely to give the optimum backscatter pattern. Whenilluminated with radar, the backscattered fields interact to create aunique interference pattern that enables one tagged object to beidentified and differentiated from other tagged objects.

In some implementations, electronic tags 206 are active radar devicescapable of transmitting radio frequency tones or pulses independent ofany received waves. In various implementations, electronic tags 206 arecapable of reflecting, amplifying, and/or modulating received radiowaves. Active radar devices comprise single transistor devices,MEMS-based devices, and mechanical gated (shuttered) devices.

In some implementations, electronic tags 206 are configured tocommunicate via radar (e.g., cause positioning information to betransmitted) in response to enablement commands received via acommunications channel (e.g., an RFID channel) from a smart device, suchas smart device 204-6 in FIG. 2. In some implementations, electronictags 206 are configured to communicate via radar at particularintervals, such as intervals preset by a smart device. For example,electronic tags 206-1 and 206-2 are configured by device 204-6 such thatonly one of the tags is communicating via radar at any given time. Insome implementations, electronic tags 206 are configured to communicatevia radar in response to detecting a change in the environment, such asmotion of the object to which the electronic tag is affixed. Forexample, in some implementations, electronic tags 206 include one ormore of: a humidity sensor; a temperature sensor; an accelerometer; agyroscope; and/or an optical sensor. In this example, the tags areconfigured to communicate via radar in response to changes detected byone or more of the sensors.

In some implementations, the smart home environment 100 includes servicerobots 168 (FIG. 1) that are configured to carry out, in an autonomousmanner, any of a variety of household tasks.

As explained above with reference to FIG. 1, in some implementations,the smart home environment 100 of FIG. 1 includes a hub device 180 thatis communicatively coupled to the network(s) 162 directly or via thenetwork interface 160. The hub device 180 is further communicativelycoupled to one or more of the smart devices using a radio communicationnetwork that is available at least in the smart home environment 100.Communication protocols used by the radio communication network include,but are not limited to, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Insteon, EuOcean, Thread, OSIAN,Bluetooth Low Energy and the like. In some implementations, the hubdevice 180 not only converts the data received from each smart device tomeet the data format requirements of the network interface 160 or thenetwork(s) 162, but also converts information received from the networkinterface 160 or the network(s) 162 to meet the data format requirementsof the respective communication protocol associated with a targetedsmart device. In some implementations, in addition to data formatconversion, the hub device 180 further processes the data received fromthe smart devices or information received from the network interface 160or the network(s) 162 preliminary. For example, the hub device 180 canintegrate inputs from multiple sensors/connected devices (includingsensors/devices of the same and/or different types), perform higherlevel processing on those inputs—e.g., to assess the overall environmentand coordinate operation among the different sensors/devices—and/orprovide instructions to the different devices based on the collection ofinputs and programmed processing. It is also noted that in someimplementations, the network interface 160 and the hub device 180 areintegrated to one network device. Functionality described herein isrepresentative of particular implementations of smart devices, controlapplication(s) running on representative electronic device(s) (such as asmart phone), hub device(s) 180, and server(s) coupled to hub device(s)via the Internet or other Wide Area Network. All or a portion of thisfunctionality and associated operations can be performed by any elementsof the described system—for example, all or a portion of thefunctionality described herein as being performed by an implementationof the hub device can be performed, in different system implementations,in whole or in part on the server, one or more connected smart devicesand/or the control application, or different combinations thereof.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network-level view of an extensible devices andservices platform with which the smart home environment of FIG. 1 isintegrated, in accordance with some implementations. The extensibledevices and services platform 300 includes smart home provider serversystem 164. Each of the intelligent, network-connected devices describedwith reference to FIG. 1 (e.g., 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116and 118, identified simply as “devices” in FIGS. 2-4) may communicatewith the smart home provider server system 164. For example, aconnection to the Internet 162 may be established either directly (forexample, using 3G/4G connectivity to a wireless carrier), or through anetwork interface 160 (e.g., a router, switch, gateway, hub device, oran intelligent, dedicated whole-home controller node), or through anycombination thereof.

In some implementations, the devices and services platform 300communicates with and collects data from the smart devices of the smarthome environment 100. In addition, in some implementations, the devicesand services platform 300 communicates with and collects data from aplurality of smart home environments across the world. For example, thesmart home provider server system 164 collects home data 302 from thedevices of one or more smart home environments 100, where the devicesmay routinely transmit home data or may transmit home data in specificinstances (e.g., when a device queries the home data 302). Examplecollected home data 302 includes, without limitation, power consumptiondata, blackbody radiation data, occupancy data, HVAC settings and usagedata, carbon monoxide levels data, carbon dioxide levels data, volatileorganic compounds levels data, sleeping schedule data, cooking scheduledata, inside and outside temperature humidity data, televisionviewership data, inside and outside noise level data, pressure data,video data, etc.

In some implementations, the smart home provider server system 164provides one or more services 304 to smart homes and/or third parties.Example services 304 include, without limitation, software updates,customer support, sensor data collection/logging, remote access, remoteor distributed control, and/or use suggestions (e.g., based on collectedhome data 302) to improve performance, reduce utility cost, increasesafety, etc. In some implementations, data associated with the services304 is stored at the smart home provider server system 164, and thesmart home provider server system 164 retrieves and transmits the dataat appropriate times (e.g., at regular intervals, upon receiving arequest from a user, etc.).

In some implementations, the extensible devices and services platform300 includes a processing engine 306, which may be concentrated at asingle server or distributed among several different computing entitieswithout limitation. In some implementations, the processing engine 306includes engines configured to receive data from the devices of smarthome environments 100 (e.g., via the Internet 162 and/or a networkinterface 160), to index the data, to analyze the data and/or togenerate statistics based on the analysis or as part of the analysis. Insome implementations, the analyzed data is stored as derived home data308.

Results of the analysis or statistics may thereafter be transmitted backto the device that provided home data used to derive the results, toother devices, to a server providing a webpage to a user of the device,or to other non-smart device entities. In some implementations, usagestatistics, usage statistics relative to use of other devices, usagepatterns, and/or statistics summarizing sensor readings are generated bythe processing engine 306 and transmitted. The results or statistics maybe provided via the Internet 162. In this manner, the processing engine306 may be configured and programmed to derive a variety of usefulinformation from the home data 302. A single server may include one ormore processing engines.

The derived home data 308 may be used at different granularities for avariety of useful purposes, ranging from explicit programmed control ofthe devices on a per-home, per-neighborhood, or per-region basis (forexample, demand-response programs for electrical utilities), to thegeneration of inferential abstractions that may assist on a per-homebasis (for example, an inference may be drawn that the homeowner hasleft for vacation and so security detection equipment may be put onheightened sensitivity), to the generation of statistics and associatedinferential abstractions that may be used for government or charitablepurposes. For example, processing engine 306 may generate statisticsabout device usage across a population of devices and send thestatistics to device users, service providers or other entities (e.g.,entities that have requested the statistics and/or entities that haveprovided monetary compensation for the statistics).

In some implementations, to encourage innovation and research and toincrease products and services available to users, the devices andservices platform 300 exposes a range of application programminginterfaces (APIs) 310 to third parties, such as charities 314,governmental entities 316 (e.g., the Food and Drug Administration or theEnvironmental Protection Agency), academic institutions 318 (e.g.,university researchers), businesses 320 (e.g., providing devicewarranties or service to related equipment, targeting advertisementsbased on home data), utility companies 324, and other third parties. TheAPIs 310 are coupled to and permit third-party systems to communicatewith the smart home provider server system 164, including the services304, the processing engine 306, the home data 302, and the derived homedata 308. In some implementations, the APIs 310 allow applicationsexecuted by the third parties to initiate specific data processing tasksthat are executed by the smart home provider server system 164, as wellas to receive dynamic updates to the home data 302 and the derived homedata 308.

For example, third parties may develop programs and/or applications(e.g., web applications or mobile applications) that integrate with thesmart home provider server system 164 to provide services andinformation to users. Such programs and applications may be, forexample, designed to help users reduce energy consumption, topreemptively service faulty equipment, to prepare for high servicedemands, to track past service performance, etc., and/or to performother beneficial functions or tasks.

FIG. 4 illustrates an abstracted functional view 400 of the extensibledevices and services platform 300 of FIG. 3, with reference to aprocessing engine 306 as well as devices of the smart home environment,in accordance with some implementations. Even though devices situated insmart home environments will have a wide variety of different individualcapabilities and limitations, the devices may be thought of as sharingcommon characteristics in that each device is a data consumer 402 (DC),a data source 404 (DS), a services consumer 406 (SC), and a servicessource 408 (SS). Advantageously, in addition to providing controlinformation used by the devices to achieve their local and immediateobjectives, the extensible devices and services platform 300 may also beconfigured to use the large amount of data that is generated by thesedevices. In addition to enhancing or optimizing the actual operation ofthe devices themselves with respect to their immediate functions, theextensible devices and services platform 300 may be directed to“repurpose” that data in a variety of automated, extensible, flexible,and/or scalable ways to achieve a variety of useful objectives. Theseobjectives may be predefined or adaptively identified based on, e.g.,usage patterns, device efficiency, and/or user input (e.g., requestingspecific functionality).

FIG. 4 shows processing engine 306 as including a number of processingparadigms 410. In some implementations, processing engine 306 includes amanaged services paradigm 410 a that monitors and manages primary orsecondary device functions. The device functions may include ensuringproper operation of a device given user inputs, estimating that (e.g.,and responding to an instance in which) an intruder is or is attemptingto be in a dwelling, detecting a failure of equipment coupled to thedevice (e.g., a light bulb having burned out), implementing or otherwiseresponding to energy demand response events, providing a heat-sourcealert, and/or alerting a user of a current or predicted future event orcharacteristic. In some implementations, processing engine 306 includesan advertising/communication paradigm 410 b that estimatescharacteristics (e.g., demographic information), desires and/or productsof interest of a user based on device usage. Services, promotions,products or upgrades may then be offered or automatically provided tothe user. In some implementations, processing engine 306 includes asocial paradigm 410 c that uses information from a social network,provides information to a social network (for example, based on deviceusage), and/or processes data associated with user and/or deviceinteractions with the social network platform. For example, a user'sstatus as reported to their trusted contacts on the social network maybe updated to indicate when the user is home based on light detection,security system inactivation or device usage detectors. As anotherexample, a user may be able to share device-usage statistics with otherusers. In yet another example, a user may share HVAC settings thatresult in low power bills and other users may download the HVAC settingsto their smart thermostat 102 to reduce their power bills.

In some implementations, processing engine 306 includes achallenges/rules/compliance/rewards paradigm 410 d that informs a userof challenges, competitions, rules, compliance regulations and/orrewards and/or that uses operation data to determine whether a challengehas been met, a rule or regulation has been complied with and/or areward has been earned. The challenges, rules, and/or regulations mayrelate to efforts to conserve energy, to live safely (e.g., reducing theoccurrence of heat-source alerts) (e.g., reducing exposure to toxins orcarcinogens), to conserve money and/or equipment life, to improvehealth, etc. For example, one challenge may involve participants turningdown their thermostat by one degree for one week. Those participantsthat successfully complete the challenge are rewarded, such as withcoupons, virtual currency, status, etc. Regarding compliance, an exampleinvolves a rental-property owner making a rule that no renters arepermitted to access certain owner's rooms. The devices in the roomhaving occupancy sensors may send updates to the owner when the room isaccessed.

In some implementations, processing engine 306 integrates or otherwiseuses extrinsic information 412 from extrinsic sources to improve thefunctioning of one or more processing paradigms. Extrinsic information412 may be used to interpret data received from a device, to determine acharacteristic of the environment near the device (e.g., outside astructure that the device is enclosed in), to determine services orproducts available to the user, to identify a social network orsocial-network information, to determine contact information of entities(e.g., public-service entities such as an emergency-response team, thepolice or a hospital) near the device, to identify statistical orenvironmental conditions, trends or other information associated with ahome or neighborhood, and so forth.

FIG. 5 illustrates a representative operating environment 500 in which aserver system 508 provides data processing for one or more smartdevices, such as one or more cameras 118. In some implementations, theserver system 508 monitors and facilitates review of motion events invideo streams captured by video cameras 118. In some implementations,server system 508 monitors and facilitates review of radar eventsdetected by one or more radar-equipped smart devices. As shown in FIG.5, in some implementations, the server system 508 receives video datafrom video sources 522 (including cameras 118) located at variousphysical locations (e.g., inside homes, restaurants, stores, streets,parking lots, and/or the smart home environments 100 of FIG. 1). Eachvideo source 522 may be bound to one or more reviewer accounts, and theserver system 508 provides video monitoring data for the video source522 to client devices 504 associated with the reviewer accounts. Forexample, the portable electronic device 166 is an example of the clientdevice 504.

In some implementations, the smart home provider server system 164 or acomponent thereof serves as the server system 508. In someimplementations, the server system 508 includes a dedicated videoprocessing server that provides video processing services to videosources and client devices 504 independent of other services provided bythe server system 508. In some implementations, the server system 508includes a dedicated radar processing server that provides radarprocessing services for various radar-equipped devices and client device504.

In some implementations, each of the video sources 522 includes one ormore video cameras 118 that capture video and send the captured video tothe server system 508 substantially in real-time. In someimplementations, each of the video sources 522 optionally includes acontroller device (not shown) that serves as an intermediary between theone or more cameras 118 and the server system 508. The controller devicereceives the video data from the one or more cameras 118, optionally,performs some preliminary processing on the video data, and sends thevideo data to the server system 508 on behalf of the one or more cameras118 substantially in real-time. In some implementations, each camera hasits own on-board processing capabilities to perform some preliminaryprocessing on the captured video data before sending the processed videodata (along with metadata obtained through the preliminary processing)to the controller device and/or the server system 508. In someimplementations, the captured video is stored in a local storage (notshown) prior to being uploaded to the server system 508.

As shown in FIG. 5, in accordance with some implementations, each of theclient devices 504 includes a client-side module 502. The client-sidemodule 502 communicates with a server-side module 506 executed on theserver system 508 through the one or more networks 162. The client-sidemodule 502 provides client-side functionalities for the event monitoringand review processing and communications with the server-side module506. The server-side module 506 provides server-side functionalities forevent monitoring and review processing for any number of client-sidemodules 502 each residing on a respective client device 504. Theserver-side module 506 also provides server-side functionalities forvideo processing and camera control for any number of the video sources522, including any number of control devices and the cameras 118.

In some implementations, the server-side module 506 includes one or moreprocessors 512, a video storage database 514, device and accountdatabases 516, an I/O interface to one or more client devices 518, andan I/O interface to one or more video sources 520. The I/O interface toone or more clients 518 facilitates the client-facing input and outputprocessing for the server-side module 506. The databases 516 store aplurality of profiles for reviewer accounts registered with the videoprocessing server, where a respective user profile includes accountcredentials for a respective reviewer account, and one or more videosources linked to the respective reviewer account. The I/O interface toone or more video sources 520 facilitates communications with one ormore video sources 522 (e.g., groups of one or more cameras 118 andassociated controller devices). The video storage database 514 storesraw video data received from the video sources 522, as well as varioustypes of metadata, such as motion events, event categories, eventcategory models, event filters, and event masks, for use in dataprocessing for event monitoring and review for each reviewer account.

Examples of a representative client device 504 include, but are notlimited to, a handheld computer, a wearable computing device, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, an enhanced generalpacket radio service (EGPRS) mobile phone, a media player, a navigationdevice, a game console, a television, a remote control, a point-of-sale(POS) terminal, vehicle-mounted computer, an ebook reader, or acombination of any two or more of these data processing devices or otherdata processing devices.

Examples of the one or more networks 162 include local area networks(LAN) and wide area networks (WAN) such as the Internet. The one or morenetworks 162 are, optionally, implemented using any known networkprotocol, including various wired or wireless protocols, such asEthernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, Long Term Evolution(LTE), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP), Wi-MAX, or any other suitable communication protocol.

In some implementations, the server system 508 is implemented on one ormore standalone data processing apparatuses or a distributed network ofcomputers. In some implementations, the server system 508 also employsvarious virtual devices and/or services of third party service providers(e.g., third-party cloud service providers) to provide the underlyingcomputing resources and/or infrastructure resources of the server system508. In some implementations, the server system 508 includes, but is notlimited to, a handheld computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, adesktop computer, or a combination of any two or more of these dataprocessing devices or other data processing devices.

The server-client environment 500 shown in FIG. 1 includes both aclient-side portion (e.g., the client-side module 502) and a server-sideportion (e.g., the server-side module 506). The division offunctionalities between the client and server portions of operatingenvironment 500 can vary in different implementations. Similarly, thedivision of functionalities between the video source 522 and the serversystem 508 can vary in different implementations. For example, in someimplementations, client-side module 502 is a thin-client that providesonly user-facing input and output processing functions, and delegatesall other data processing functionalities to a backend server (e.g., theserver system 508). Similarly, in some implementations, a respective oneof the video sources 522 is a simple video capturing device thatcontinuously captures and streams video data to the server system 508without no or limited local preliminary processing on the video data.Although many aspects of the present technology are described from theperspective of the server system 508, the corresponding actionsperformed by the client device 504 and/or the video sources 522 would beapparent to ones skilled in the art without any creative efforts.Similarly, some aspects of the present technology may be described fromthe perspective of the client device or the video source, and thecorresponding actions performed by the video server would be apparent toones skilled in the art without any creative efforts. Furthermore, someaspects of the present technology may be performed by the server system508, the client device 504, and the video sources 522 cooperatively.

It should be understood that operating environment 500 that involves theserver system 508, the video sources 522 and the video cameras 118 ismerely an example. Many aspects of operating environment 500 aregenerally applicable in other operating environments in which a serversystem provides data processing for monitoring and facilitating reviewof data captured by other types of electronic devices (e.g., smartthermostats 102, smart hazard detectors 104, smart doorbells 106, smartwall plugs 110, appliances 112 and the like).

The electronic devices, the client devices or the server systemcommunicate with each other using the one or more communication networks162. In an example smart home environment, two or more devices (e.g.,the network interface device 160, the hub device 180, and the clientdevices 504-m) are located in close proximity to each other, such thatthey could be communicatively coupled in the same sub-network 162A viawired connections, a WLAN or a Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN).The Bluetooth PAN is optionally established based on classical Bluetoothtechnology or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. This smart homeenvironment further includes one or more other radio communicationnetworks 162B through which at least some of the electronic devices ofthe video sources 522-n exchange data with the hub device 180.Alternatively, in some situations, some of the electronic devices of thevideo sources 522-n communicate with the network interface device 160directly via the same sub-network 162A that couples devices 160, 180 and504-m. In some implementations (e.g., in the network 162C), both theclient device 504-m and the electronic devices of the video sources522-n communicate directly via the network(s) 162 without passing thenetwork interface device 160 or the hub device 180.

In some implementations, during normal operation, the network interfacedevice 160 and the hub device 180 communicate with each other to form anetwork gateway through which data are exchanged with the electronicdevice of the video sources 522-n. As explained above, the networkinterface device 160 and the hub device 180 optionally communicate witheach other via a sub-network 162A.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a representative hub device 180in accordance with some implementations. In some implementations, thehub device 180 includes one or more processing units (e.g., CPUs, ASICs,FPGAs, microprocessors, and the like) 602, one or more communicationinterfaces 604, memory 606, radios 640, and one or more communicationbuses 608 for interconnecting these components (sometimes called achipset). In some implementations, the hub device 180 includes one ormore input devices 610 such as one or more buttons for receiving input.In some implementations, the hub device 180 includes one or more outputdevices 612 such as one or more indicator lights, a sound card, aspeaker, a small display for displaying textual information and errorcodes, etc. Furthermore, in some implementations, the hub device 180uses a microphone and voice recognition or a camera and gesturerecognition to supplement or replace the keyboard. In someimplementations, the hub device 180 includes a location detection device614, such as a GPS (global positioning satellite) or other geo-locationreceiver, for determining the location of the hub device 180.

The hub device 180 optionally includes one or more built-in sensors (notshown), including, for example, one or more thermal radiation sensors,ambient temperature sensors, humidity sensors, IR sensors, radar,occupancy sensors (e.g., using RFID sensors), ambient light sensors,motion detectors, accelerometers, and/or gyroscopes.

The radios 640 enable and/or connect to one or more radio communicationnetworks in the smart home environments, and allow a hub device tocommunicate with smart devices 204. In some implementations, the radios640 are capable of data communications using any of a variety of customor standard wireless protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.15.4, Wi-Fi, ZigBee,6LoWPAN, Thread, Z-Wave, Bluetooth Smart, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART,MiWi, etc.) custom or standard wired protocols (e.g., Ethernet,HomePlug, etc.), and/or any other suitable communication protocol,including communication protocols not yet developed as of the filingdate of this document. In some implementations, the radios 640 includemultiple different physical radios, each of which implements a differentcommunication protocol. For example, in some implementations the radios640 include a Wi-Fi radio, a Bluetooth radio and an IEEE 802.15.4 radio,all of which operate at 2.4 GHz. In some implementations, the radios 640include one or more radar transceivers. In some implementations, some ofthe radios are combined. For example, in some implementations, aBluetooth radio and a Wi-Fi radio are incorporated in a single chipcoupled to a single antenna. In other implementations, a Bluetooth radioand an IEEE 802.15.4 radio are incorporated in a single chip coupled toa single antenna. Any combination of these radios can be implemented inany of the smart devices employed in a smart home environment.

In some implementations, hub device 180 includes a radar subsystem. Insome implementations, the radar subsystem uses radio waves (alsosometimes called radar signals) to determine the range, angle, position,or velocity of objects. In some implementations, the radar subsystemtransmits radio waves (or microwaves) that reflect from objects in theirpath. The radar subsystem further receives and processes the reflectedwaves to determine properties of the objects. In some implementations,the radar subsystem includes one or more communication modules (e.g.,radio communication module 620) in memory 606, one or more radios 640,and/or one or more communication interfaces 604.

Communication interfaces 604 include, for example, hardware capable ofinterfacing the one or more radios 640 with the hub device 180, so as toenable data communications using any of a variety of custom or standardwireless protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.15.4, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Thread,Z-Wave, Bluetooth Smart, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, MiWi, etc.) and/orany of a variety of custom or standard wired protocols (e.g., Ethernet,HomePlug, etc.), or any other suitable communication protocol, includingcommunication protocols not yet developed as of the filing date of thisdocument. In some implementations, communication interfaces 604 includeone or more antennas for transmitting and receiving signals as governedby radios 640.

Memory 606 includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM,DDR RAM, or other random access solid state memory devices; and,optionally, includes non-volatile memory, such as one or more magneticdisk storage devices, one or more optical disk storage devices, one ormore flash memory devices, or one or more other non-volatile solid statestorage devices. Memory 606, or alternatively the non-volatile memorywithin memory 606, includes a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium. In some implementations, memory 606, or the non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of memory 606, stores the followingprograms, modules, and data structures, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Operating logic 616 including procedures for handling various        basic system services and for performing hardware dependent        tasks;    -   Hub device communication module 618 for connecting to and        communicating with other network devices (e.g., network        interface 160, such as a router that provides Internet        connectivity, networked storage devices, network routing        devices, server system 508, etc.) connected to one or more        networks 162 via one or more communication interfaces 604 (wired        or wireless);    -   Radio communication module 620 for connecting the hub device 180        to other devices (e.g., controller devices, smart devices 204 in        smart home environment 100, client devices 504, and/or        electronic tags) via one or more radio communication devices        (e.g., radios 640);    -   User interface module 622 for providing and displaying a user        interface in which settings, captured data, and/or other data        for one or more devices (e.g., smart devices 204 in smart home        environment 100) can be configured and/or viewed; and    -   Hub device database 624, including but not limited to:        -   Sensor information 6240 for storing and managing data            received, detected, and/or transmitted by one or more            sensors of the hub device 180 and/or one or more other            devices (e.g., smart devices 204 in smart home environment            100);        -   Device settings 6242 for storing operational settings for            one or more devices (e.g., coupled smart devices 204 in            smart home environment 100), such as device identifications,            timing settings, radar settings, operational modes, and/or            preference settings; and        -   Communication protocol information 6244 for storing and            managing protocol information for one or more protocols            (e.g., standard wireless protocols, such as ZigBee, Z-Wave,            etc., and/or custom or standard wired protocols, such as            Ethernet).

Each of the above identified elements (e.g., modules stored in memory206 of hub device 180) may be stored in one or more of the previouslymentioned memory devices (e.g., the memory of any of the smart devicesin smart home environment 100, FIG. 1), and corresponds to a set ofinstructions for performing a function described above. The aboveidentified modules or programs (i.e., sets of instructions) need not beimplemented as separate software programs, procedures, or modules, andthus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwisere-arranged in various implementations. In some implementations, memory606, optionally, stores a subset of the modules and data structuresidentified above. Furthermore, memory 606, optionally, stores additionalmodules and data structures not described above.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the server system 508 inaccordance with some implementations. The server system 508, typically,includes one or more processing units (CPUs) 702, one or more networkinterfaces 704 (e.g., including an I/O interface to one or more clientdevices and an I/O interface to one or more electronic devices), memory706, and one or more communication buses 708 for interconnecting thesecomponents (sometimes called a chipset). Memory 706 includes high-speedrandom access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM, or other randomaccess solid state memory devices; and, optionally, includesnon-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices,one or more optical disk storage devices, one or more flash memorydevices, or one or more other non-volatile solid state storage devices.Memory 706, optionally, includes one or more storage devices remotelylocated from one or more processing units 702. Memory 706, oralternatively the non-volatile memory within memory 706, includes anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In someimplementations, memory 706, or the non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of memory 706, stores the following programs, modules,and data structures, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Operating system 710 including procedures for handling various        basic system services and for performing hardware dependent        tasks;    -   Network communication module 712 for connecting the server        system 508 to other systems and devices (e.g., client devices,        electronic devices, and systems connected to one or more        networks 162, FIGS. 1-5) via one or more network interfaces 704        (wired or wireless);    -   Server-side module 714, which provides server-side        functionalities for device control, data processing and data        review, including but not limited to:        -   Data receiving module 7140 for receiving data from            electronic devices (e.g., video data from a camera 118            and/or radar information from a radar-equipped device), and            preparing the received data for further processing and            storage in the data storage database 7160;        -   Hub and device control module 7142 for generating and            sending server-initiated control commands to modify            operation modes of electronic devices (e.g., devices of a            smart home environment 100), and/or receiving (e.g., from            client devices 504) and forwarding user-initiated control            commands to modify operation modes of the electronic            devices;        -   Data processing module 7144 for processing the data provided            by the electronic devices, and/or preparing and sending            processed data to a device for review (e.g., client devices            504 for review by a user), including but not limited to:            -   Radar processing module 7145 for processing radar data                provided by radar-equipped devices, such as classifying                radar events and identifying radar-detected entities;            -   Video processing module 7146 processing video data                provided by one or more cameras, such as classifying                motion events and identifying motion entities; and            -   User interface sub-module 7150 for communicating with a                user (e.g., sending alerts, timeline events, etc. and                receiving user edits and zone definitions and the like);                and    -   Server database 716, including but not limited to:        -   Data storage database 7160 for storing data associated with            each electronic device (e.g., each camera) of each user            account, as well as data processing models, processed data            results, and other relevant metadata (e.g., names of data            results, location of electronic device, creation time,            duration, settings of the electronic device, etc.)            associated with the data, wherein (optionally) all or a            portion of the data and/or processing associated with the            hub device 180 or smart devices are stored securely;        -   Account database 7162 for storing account information for            user accounts, including user account information such as            user profiles 7163, information and settings for linked hub            devices and electronic devices (e.g., hub device            identifications), hub device specific secrets, relevant user            and hardware characteristics (e.g., service tier, device            model, storage capacity, processing capabilities, etc.),            user interface settings, data review preferences, etc.,            where the information for associated electronic devices            includes, but is not limited to, one or more device            identifiers (e.g., MAC address and UUID), device specific            secrets, and displayed titles;        -   Device information database 7164 for storing device            information related to one or more devices such as device            profiles 7165, e.g., device identifiers and hub device            specific secrets, independently of whether the corresponding            hub devices have been associated with any user account;        -   Event information database 7166 for storing event            information such as event records 7168, e.g., event log            information, event categories, and the like;        -   Tag information database 7170 for storing tag information            for one or more electronic tags, e.g., tag identifiers, tag            signal timing, tag location information, and the like;        -   Radar information database 7172 for storing radar            information for one or more smart devices, e.g., radar band            and/or mode information, historical radar data, radar object            modeling information, and the like; and        -   Device timing information 7174 for storing timing            information for one or more smart device, e.g., timing            synchronization information for synchronizing various smart            devices.

Each of the above identified elements may be stored in one or more ofthe previously mentioned memory devices, and corresponds to a set ofinstructions for performing a function described above. The aboveidentified modules or programs (i.e., sets of instructions) need not beimplemented as separate software programs, procedures, or modules, andthus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwisere-arranged in various implementations. In some implementations, memory706, optionally, stores a subset of the modules and data structuresidentified above. Furthermore, memory 706, optionally, stores additionalmodules and data structures not described above.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a representative client device504 associated with a user account in accordance with someimplementations. The client device 504, typically, includes one or moreprocessing units (CPUs) 802, one or more network interfaces 804, memory806, and one or more communication buses 808 for interconnecting thesecomponents (sometimes called a chipset). Optionally, the client devicealso includes a user interface 810 and one or more built-in sensors 890(e.g., accelerometer and gyroscope). User interface 810 includes one ormore output devices 812 that enable presentation of media content,including one or more speakers and/or one or more visual displays. Userinterface 810 also includes one or more input devices 814, includinguser interface components that facilitate user input such as a keyboard,a mouse, a voice-command input unit or microphone, a touch screendisplay, a touch-sensitive input pad, a gesture capturing camera, orother input buttons or controls. Furthermore, some the client devicesuse a microphone and voice recognition or a camera and gesturerecognition to supplement or replace the keyboard. In someimplementations, the client device includes one or more cameras,scanners, or photo sensor units for capturing images (not shown).Optionally, the client device includes a location detection device 816,such as a GPS (global positioning satellite) or other geo-locationreceiver, for determining the location of the client device.

Memory 806 includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM,DDR RAM, or other random access solid state memory devices; and,optionally, includes non-volatile memory, such as one or more magneticdisk storage devices, one or more optical disk storage devices, one ormore flash memory devices, or one or more other non-volatile solid statestorage devices. Memory 806, optionally, includes one or more storagedevices remotely located from one or more processing units 802. Memory806, or alternatively the non-volatile memory within memory 806,includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In someimplementations, memory 806, or the non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of memory 806, stores the following programs, modules,and data structures, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Operating system 818 including procedures for handling various        basic system services and for performing hardware dependent        tasks;    -   Network communication module 820 for connecting the client        device 504 to other systems and devices (e.g., client devices,        electronic devices, and systems connected to one or more        networks 162, FIGS. 1-5) via one or more network interfaces 804        (wired or wireless);    -   Input processing module 822 for detecting one or more user        inputs or interactions from one of the one or more input devices        814 and interpreting the detected input or interaction;    -   One or more applications 824 for execution by the client device        (e.g., games, social network applications, smart home        applications, and/or other web or non-web based applications)        for controlling devices (e.g., sending commands, configuring        settings, etc. to hub devices and/or other client or electronic        devices) and for reviewing data captured by the devices (e.g.,        device status and settings, captured data, or other information        regarding the hub device or other connected devices);    -   User interface module 622 for providing and displaying a user        interface in which settings, captured data, and/or other data        for one or more devices (e.g., smart devices 204 in smart home        environment 100) can be configured and/or viewed;    -   Client-side module 828, which provides client-side        functionalities for device control, data processing and data        review, including but not limited to:        -   Hub device and device control module 8280 for generating            control commands for modifying an operating mode of the hub            device or the electronic devices in accordance with user            inputs; and        -   Data review module 8282 for providing user interfaces for            reviewing data processed by the server system 508; and    -   Client data 830 storing data associated with the user account        and electronic devices, including, but is not limited to:        -   Account data 8300 storing information related to both user            accounts loaded on the client device and electronic devices            (e.g., of the video sources 522) associated with the user            accounts, wherein such information includes cached login            credentials, hub device identifiers (e.g., MAC addresses and            UUIDs), electronic device identifiers (e.g., MAC addresses            and UUIDs), user interface settings, display preferences,            authentication tokens and tags, password keys, etc.; and        -   Local data storage database 8302 for selectively storing raw            or processed data associated with electronic devices (e.g.,            of the video sources 522, such as a camera 118).

Each of the above identified elements may be stored in one or more ofthe previously mentioned memory devices, and corresponds to a set ofinstructions for performing a function described above. The aboveidentified modules or programs (i.e., sets of instructions) need not beimplemented as separate software programs, procedures, modules or datastructures, and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined orotherwise re-arranged in various implementations. In someimplementations, memory 806, optionally, stores a subset of the modulesand data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory 806,optionally, stores additional modules and data structures not describedabove.

In some implementations, client device 504 includes one or moregraphical user interfaces and/or one or more modules for registeringsmart devices and/or electronic tags in the smart home environment. Insome implementations, client device 504 includes an application, such asa smart home application, for interacting with a smart home environment.In some implementations, the smart home application includes one or moreuser interfaces for one or more of the following: registering smartdevice(s), registering electronic tag(s), adjusting operation of smartdevice(s), reviewing data from smart device(s), and the like. In someimplementations, the smart home application includes user interfacemodule 826 and client-side module 828.

FIG. 9A is a block diagram illustrating a representative smart device204 in accordance with some implementations. In some implementations,the smart device 204 (e.g., any device of a smart home environment 100(FIGS. 1 and 2), such as a camera 118, a smart hazard detector 104, asmart thermostat 102, hub device 180, etc.) includes one or moreprocessing units (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, microprocessors, and thelike) 902, memory 906, a communications module 942 that includes one ormore radio(s) 940 and radio(s) 950, communication interfaces 904, andone or more communication buses 908 for interconnecting these components(sometimes called a chipset). In some implementations, user interface910 includes one or more output devices 912 that enable presentation ofmedia content, including one or more speakers and/or one or more visualdisplays. In some implementations, user interface 910 also includes oneor more input devices 914, including user interface components thatfacilitate user input such as a keyboard, a mouse, a voice-command inputunit or microphone, a touch screen display, a touch-sensitive input pad,a gesture capturing camera, or other input buttons or controls.Furthermore, some smart devices 204 use a microphone and voicerecognition or a camera and gesture recognition to supplement or replacethe keyboard. In some implementations, the smart device 204 includes oneor more image/video capture devices 918 (e.g., cameras, video cameras,scanners, photo sensor units). Optionally, the client device includes alocation detection device 916, such as a GPS (global positioningsatellite) or other geo-location receiver, for determining the locationof the smart device 204.

The built-in sensors 990 include, for example, one or more thermalradiation sensors, ambient temperature sensors, humidity sensors, IRsensors, occupancy sensors (e.g., using RFID sensors), ambient lightsensors, motion detectors, accelerometers, and/or gyroscopes.

The radio(s) 940 and radio(s) 950 enable one or more radio communicationnetworks in the smart home environments, and allow a smart device 204 tocommunicate with other devices. In some implementations, the radio(s)940 are capable of data communications using any of a variety of customor standard wireless protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.15.4, Wi-Fi, ZigBee,6LoWPAN, Thread, Z-Wave, Bluetooth Smart, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART,MiWi, etc.) custom or standard wired protocols (e.g., Ethernet,HomePlug, etc.), and/or any other suitable communication protocol,including communication protocols not yet developed as of the filingdate of this document. In some implementations, radio(s) 940 and/orradio(s) 950 are utilized for radar communications (e.g., to transmitand/or receive positioning information via radar).

Communication interfaces 904 include, for example, hardware capable ofinterfacing the one or more radio(s) 940 and 950 with the smart device204, so as to enable data communications using any of a variety ofcustom or standard wireless protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.15.4, Wi-Fi,ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Thread, Z-Wave, Bluetooth Smart, ISA100.11a,WirelessHART, MiWi, etc.) and/or any of a variety of custom or standardwired protocols (e.g., Ethernet, HomePlug, etc.), or any other suitablecommunication protocol, including communication protocols not yetdeveloped as of the filing date of this document. In someimplementations, each radio(s) 940 and radio(s) 950 has a respectivecommunication interface 904 for facilitating and managing datacommunications for the respective radio, while in other implementations,multiple radio(s) 940 and/or 950 are managed by a single communicationinterface 904.

In some implementations, radio(s) 940 and/or radio(s) 950 are configuredto transmit and receive the same or distinct types of signals in thesmart home environment. For example, radio(s) 940 may includetransceivers configured to transmit data between other devices (e.g.,smart devices) within the smart home environment (e.g., IEEE 802.15.4communications protocol for unilaterally/bilaterally transmitting databetween and among smart devices). Signals transmitted between devicesoptionally include, for example, signals directed to critical hazardinformation (e.g., pings indicating the detection of smoke) or devicestatus information (e.g., ping indicating low battery). In contrast, insome implementations, the radio(s) 950 may include transceiversconfigured to transmit high-bandwidth data across data networks (e.g.,IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi for uploading a video stream to a smart home providerserver system 164). In some implementations, the radio(s) 940 and/or theradio(s) 950 include transceivers configured for close-rangecommunications with devices (e.g., Bluetooth communications protocol fordevice provisioning). In some implementations, the radio(s) 940 and/orthe radio(s) 950 include transceivers configured to transmit low-powersignals (e.g., smart hazard detectors 104 not connected to a persistentpower source). In some implementations, radio(s) 940 and/or radio(s) 950are configured to transmit multiple types of signals in the smart homeenvironment (e.g., a Wi-Fi radio 950 uploads video stream data to thesmart home provider server system 164, in addition to routing receivedbeacons to other nearby smart devices). In some implementations, theradio(s) 940 and/or the radio(s) 950 of a respective device includetransceivers for directly and communicably bridging the respectivedevice to other devices. For example, pairing devices directly viaBluetooth, rather than communicating via a router by using Wi-Fi. Insome implementations, the radio(s) 940 and/or the radio(s) 950 areconfigured to translate signals received through a first radio 940, andfurther to re-transmit the translated signals using the first radio 940and/or a radio 950 (e.g., a proprietary message format is received viaBluetooth and translated, where the translated messages arere-transmitted to other devices using Wi-Fi).

In some implementations, the radio(s) 940 and/or the radio(s) 950include transceivers configured to transmit data via RFID (e.g., for usein identifying electronic tags and/or other devices). In someimplementations, the radio(s) 940 and/or the radio(s) 950 includetransceivers configured for radar operations (e.g., for use indetermining distances, velocities, and the like). In someimplementations, the radio(s) 940 and/or the radio(s) 950 are configuredfor radar operations via one or more radio frequency bands, such as 3-10GHz, 24-24.5 GHz, 57-64 GHz, and/or 77-81 GHz.

The communications module 942 includes a variety of components forenabling the receiving and transmitting of signals by a respective smartdevice 204, including one or more amplifiers, oscillators, antennas,filters, switches, memory, firmware, and/or any other support circuitsor circuit components. In some implementations, the one or more radio(s)940 and radio(s) 950 are integrated components of the communicationsmodule 942 (e.g., System on a Chip (SOC)). In some implementations, theone or more radio(s) 940 and radio(s) 950 have respective circuitcomponents. Alternatively, the one or more radio(s) 940 and radio(s) 950share one or more circuit components.

In some implementations, the communications module 942 includes a 1Dradar subsystem having one transmitter and one receiver. In someimplementations, the communications module 842 includes amulti-dimensional radar subsystem. For example, in some implementations,the communications module 842 includes two radar transmitters and fourradar receivers.

Memory 906 includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM,DDR RAM, or other random access solid state memory devices; and,optionally, includes non-volatile memory, such as one or more magneticdisk storage devices, one or more optical disk storage devices, one ormore flash memory devices, or one or more other non-volatile solid statestorage devices. Memory 906, or alternatively the non-volatile memorywithin memory 906, includes a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium. In some implementations, memory 906, or the non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of memory 906, stores the followingprograms, modules, and data structures, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Operating logic 920 including procedures for handling various        basic system services and for performing hardware dependent        tasks;    -   Device communication module 922 for connecting to and        communicating with other network devices (e.g., network        interface 160, such as a router that provides Internet        connectivity, networked storage devices, network routing        devices, server system 508, etc.) connected to one or more        networks 162 via one or more communication interfaces 904 (wired        or wireless);    -   Radio communication module 924 for connecting the smart device        204 to other devices (e.g., controller devices, smart devices        204 in smart home environment 100, client devices 504) utilizing        radio communication in conjunction with communications module        942;    -   Input processing module 926 for detecting one or more user        inputs or interactions from the one or more input devices 914        and interpreting the detected inputs or interactions;    -   User interface module 928 for providing and displaying a user        interface in which settings, captured data, and/or other data        for one or more devices (e.g., the smart device 204, and/or        other devices in smart home environment 100) can be configured        and/or viewed;    -   One or more applications 930 for execution by the smart device        930 (e.g., games, social network applications, smart home        applications, and/or other web or non-web based applications)        for controlling devices (e.g., executing commands, sending        commands, and/or configuring settings of the smart device 204        and/or other client/electronic devices), and for reviewing data        captured by devices (e.g., device status and settings, captured        data, or other information regarding the smart device 204 and/or        other client/electronic devices);    -   Device-side module 932, which provides device-side        functionalities for device control, data processing and data        review, including but not limited to:        -   Command receiving module 9320 for receiving, forwarding,            and/or executing instructions and control commands (e.g.,            from a client device 504, from a smart home provider server            system 164, from user inputs detected on the user interface            910, etc.) for operating the smart device 204; and        -   Data processing module 9322 for processing data captured or            received by one or more inputs (e.g., input devices 914,            image/video capture devices 918, location detection device            916), sensors (e.g., built-in sensors 990), interfaces            (e.g., communication interfaces 904, radio(s) 940), and/or            other components of the smart device 204, and for preparing            and sending processed data to a device for review (e.g.,            client devices 504 for review by a user), including but not            limited to:            -   Radar processing module 9324 for processing radar data                captured or received by the smart device 204, such as                classifying radar events, recognizing radar entities,                and/or aggregating radar data with data from other                sensors (e.g., video data);    -   Device data 934 storing data associated with devices (e.g., the        smart device 204), including but not limited to:        -   Account data 9340 storing information related to user            accounts loaded on the smart device 204, wherein such            information includes cached login credentials, smart device            identifiers (e.g., MAC addresses and UUIDs), user interface            settings, display preferences, authentication tokens and            tags, password keys, etc.; and        -   Local data storage database 9342 for selectively storing raw            or processed data associated with the smart device 204            (e.g., captured video footage and/or radar data);    -   Bypass module 936 for detecting whether radio(s) 940 and/or        radio(s) 950 are transmitting signals via respective antennas        coupled to the radio(s) 940 and/or radio(s) 950, and to        accordingly couple radio(s) 940 and/or radio(s) 950 to their        respective antennas either via a bypass line or an amplifier;    -   Transmission access module 938 for granting or denying        transmission access to one or more radio(s) 940 and/or radio(s)        950 (e.g., based on detected control signals and transmission        requests); and    -   Radar module 944 for sending, receiving, and/or manipulating        radar signals (e.g., in conjunction with communications module        942 and/or communications interface 904).

Each of the above identified elements may be stored in one or more ofthe previously mentioned memory devices, and corresponds to a set ofinstructions for performing a function described above. For example, insome implementations, the one or more radio(s) 940 and radio(s) 950include respective memory and firmware for storing one or moreprograms/executable modules of the memory 906. The above identifiedmodules or programs (i.e., sets of instructions) need not be implementedas separate software programs, procedures, or modules, and thus varioussubsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise re-arranged invarious implementations. In some implementations, memory 906,optionally, stores a subset of the modules and data structuresidentified above. Furthermore, memory 906, optionally, stores additionalmodules and data structures not described above, such as a videoprocessing module.

FIG. 9B is a block diagram illustrating a representative electronic tag(also sometimes called a radar- and wirelessly-equipped electronicdevice) in accordance with some implementations. FIG. 9B shows theelectronic tag 206 including communication circuitry 903, radarcircuitry 913, a controller 911, energy storage circuitry 923, andcommunication line(s) 901. In some implementations, the electronic tag206 includes one or more additional sensors 925, such as a humiditysensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a temperature sensor, an opticalsensor, and the like. In some implementations, the controller 911 is acomponent of the communication circuitry 903. The communicationcircuitry 903 includes a receiver 905 for receiving signals such as RFIDsignals. In some implementations, the communication circuitry 903includes a transmitter (not shown) for transmitting signals, such asRFID signals. In some implementations, the communication circuitry 903includes a decoder 907 for decoding and/or decrypting signals receivedvia the receiver 905. In some implementations, the decoder 907 is acomponent of the controller 911. In some implementations, the controller911 decodes and/or decrypts signals received via the receiver 905. Insome implementations, the communication circuitry 903 includes anencoder (not shown) for encoding outgoing transmissions.

The radar circuitry 913 includes a receiver 915 for receiving radarsignals, a transmitter 917 for transmitting radar signals, a controller919 for managing various components of the radar circuitry 913, such asthe receiver 915 and/or the transmitter 917, and a signal subsystem 921.In some implementations the controller 919 is a component of thecontroller 911. In some implementations, the signal subsystem 921includes components for amplifying, modulating, and/or generating radarsignals. In some implementations, the radar circuitry 913 comprisespassive radar circuitry, while in other implementations, the radarcircuitry 913 comprises active radar circuitry. In some implementations,the energy storage circuitry 923 includes an energy storage device, suchas a capacitor or battery. In some implementations, the energy storagecircuitry 923 includes circuitry to couple the electronic tag 206 to anexternal power source, such as a battery or outlet. In someimplementations, the energy storage circuitry 923 includes a powermanagement integrated circuit (IC). In some implementations, the energystorage circuitry 923 includes circuitry to harvest energy from signalsreceived via an antenna (e.g., the receiver 905) of the electronic tag.In some implementations, the energy storage circuitry 923 includescircuitry to harvest thermal, vibrational, electromagnetic, and/or solarenergy received by the electronic tag.

In some implementations, the controller 911 is configured to: (1)receive a command from another device via the one or more antennas; (2)determine whether the command was intended for the electronic tag (e.g.,based on a unique ID of the electronic device); (3) in accordance with adetermination that the command was intended for the electronic tag,operate in accordance with the command; and (4) in accordance with adetermination that the command was not intended for the electronic tag,disregard the command.

In some implementations, the functions of any of the devices and systemsdescribed herein (e.g., hub device 180, server system 508, client device504, smart device 204, smart home provider server system 164) areinterchangeable with one another and may be performed by any otherdevices or systems, where the corresponding sub-modules of thesefunctions may additionally and/or alternatively be located within andexecuted by any of the devices and systems. The devices and systemsshown in and described with respect to FIGS. 6-9 are merelyillustrative, and different configurations of the modules forimplementing the functions described herein are possible in variousimplementations.

As described with respect to FIGS. 6-9, devices and tags in a smart homeenvironment (e.g., smart devices 204 in FIG. 2, such as cameras 118,smart thermostats 102, smart hazard detectors 104, etc. of a smart homeenvironment 100, FIG. 1) include a host of circuit components andinterfaces for enabling communications with other systems, devices,and/or servers. For example, in some implementations, smart devicesinclude a communications module (e.g., communications module 942, FIG.9A) which comprises one or more radio(s) 940 and/or radio(s) 950 forreceiving and transmitting signals to other devices and across networks(sometimes referred to generally as “transceivers” or “transceiverdevices”). In some implementations, the one or more radio(s) 940 andradio(s) 950 are components of a single integrated circuit (e.g., Systemon a Chip (SOC)). Given the typical physical compactness of smartdevices, components of the communications module 942 and othercomponents of the device are often collocated in close physicalproximity with one another. For example, a typical smart device maycontain multiple radio antennas, memory devices, sensors, chips, andother electronic components. As a consequence of their close physicalspacing within smart devices, however, and in combination withcomponents coming into close contact with conductive materials (e.g.,metal casing, camera stand, wires, etc.), device components, such asantennas, are typically poorly isolated from transmissions of oneanother. Additionally, because these devices sometimes share the same orclose frequency bands in operation (e.g., IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wi-Fi) and802.15.4 sharing 2.4 GHz frequency band), signals transmitted by onecomponent tend to interfere with signals transmitted and/or received byother components. Ultimately, components of the communications module942 typically achieve poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), distortion,degraded analog signal quality, and increased bit error rate (BER).

Furthermore, the poor isolation of these devices has an additionalimpact on the maximum input power of device components, since thetransmission power of signals transmitting by one transceiver addsunexpectedly to the expected transmission of signals simultaneouslyreceived by other nearby transceivers. Sensitive device components arethus often risk of damage when their input power thresholds areexceeded.

Radar Tag Operations

FIG. 10A shows an environment and system for communicating via radarsignals in accordance with some implementations. FIG. 10A shows acontrol device 1000 communicating via signals 1006 with electronic tags1002 within a dwelling. In some implementations, the control device 1000is a smart device, such as a camera, a thermostat, a hazard detector, ahub device, or the like. In some implementations, the control device1000 comprises a smart device 204 (e.g., FIG. 9A), in accordance withany of the implementations disclosed in FIGS. 1-9 (e.g., devices 102,104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, and/or 122, FIG. 1, such asa camera 118, a smart hazard detector 104, a smart thermostat 102,etc.). In some implementations, the electronic tags 1002 compriseelectronic tags 206 (FIG. 9B). In some implementations, the signals 1006comprise RFID signals. In some implementations, the signals 1006comprise signals transmitted at a same frequency, while in otherimplementations, at least a subset of the signals 1006 are transmitted adistinct frequencies (e.g., distinct frequencies within a frequencyband). In some implementations, the signals 1006 each include deviceidentification information. For example, each of the electronic tags1002 receives the signal 1006-1 and analyzes the included deviceidentification information to determine whether the signal 1006-1 wasintended for the particular tag. Thus, in accordance with someimplementations, the signal 1006-1 includes device identification forthe electronic tag 1002-1, the signal 1006-2 includes deviceidentification for the electronic tag 1002-2, the signal 1006-3 includesdevice identification for the tag 1002-3, and the signal 1006-4 includesdevice identification for the tag 1002-4. The control device 1000further transmits and receives radar signals. In some implementations,the radar signals are used to determine distance, velocity,acceleration, location, and/or direction of movement for a plurality ofobjects within signal range. The electronic tags 1002 communicate viaradar signals with control device 1000. For example, the electronic tags1002 cause positioning information (e.g., phantom velocities) to betransmitted and the control device 1000 receives and analyzes thepositioning information in accordance with radar processing techniquesto determine positions of the electronic tags 1002. In someimplementations, the electronic tags 1002 communicate via radar signalsin response to an enablement signal (e.g., signal 1006-1). In someimplementations, communicating via radar signals comprises reflecting,modifying, and/or amplifying received radar signals. In someimplementations, communicating via radar signals comprises generatingradar signals at the electronic tag independent of any radar signalsreceived by the tag. As shown in FIG. 10A, an electronic tag 1002 isoptionally configured to be affixed to inanimate objects such as wallsand ceilings, moving objects such as doors and windows, and/or movingentities such as people and pets. In some implementations, the controldevice 1000 adjusts one or more settings (e.g., one or more settings ofa smart home environment) based on the location and/or movement of aperson determined based on the affixed tag's radar responses. Forexample, the control device 1000 adjusts lightning in a room based onwhether person's location in room (e.g., whether the person is sittingin a read chair or lounging on the couch). As another example, thecontrol device 1000 adjusts audio levels and/or balancing based on oneor more persons locations within a room.

In some implementations, an electronic tag 1002 is configured to beaffixed to small objects, such as keys or a remote control, and toassist a user in locating the small objects. For example, the controldevice 1000 locates small objects to which an electronic tag 1002 isaffixed based on radar responses of the electronic tag 1002. In someimplementations, an electronic tag 1002 is configured to be affixed toobjects of value to a user, such as a speaker system, jewelry box, orantique vase, and to assist a user in monitoring the location of theobjects. For example, the control device 1000 uses positioning databased on the electronic tag's radar responses (or a lack of radarresponses) to determine whether the object is within predefinedboundaries (e.g., within the home or office). In this example, thecontrol device 1000 alerts the user (and/or the police) if it determinesthat the object is not within the predefined boundaries.

FIG. 10B illustrates a representative system and process for utilizingradar tags, in accordance with some implementations. At a first time,the radar circuitry for electronic tags 1002-1 and 1002-2 are disabledas illustrated by 1008 and 1009. In some implementations, disabling theradar circuitry includes disconnecting the radar circuitry from a powersource. In some implementations, disabling the radar circuitry includespreventing the radar circuitry from transmitting radio signals.

At a second time, the control device 1000 (e.g., smart device 204)transmits a first enable signal 1010 via a sideband (e.g., Wi-Fi). Theelectronic tag 1002-1 receives the first enable signal 1010. In someimplementations, the electronic tag 1002-1 determines that the firstenable signal 1010 is intended for the electronic tag 1002-1. In someimplementations, determining that the first enable signal 1010 isintended for the electronic tag 1002-1 includes comparing deviceidentification within signal 1010 with device identification of theelectronic tag 1002-1. In response to receiving the first enable signal1010, or in response to determining that the signal 1010 was intendedfor the electronic tag 1002-1, the electronic tag 1002-1 enables (1012)its radar circuitry.

In some implementations, the electronic tag 1002-2 receives the firstenable signal 1010 and determines that the first enable signal is notintended for the electronic tag 1002-2.

At a third time, the control device 1000 transmits a radio signal 1014using its radar circuitry. The electronic tag 1002-1 receives the radiosignal 1014. In some implementations, the electronic tag 1002-1 modifiesthe received radio signal 1014. In some implementations, modifying theradio signal 1014 includes amplifying the radio signal 1014 and/ormodulating the radio signal 1014. In some implementations, theelectronic tag 1002-1 transmits the modified radio signal 1016. In someimplementations, the electronic tag 1002-1 transmits a radio pulse ortone in response to receiving the radio signal 1014. Subsequent tosending radio signal 1016, the electronic tag 1002-1 disables (1017) itsradar circuitry.

The control device 1000 receives the signal 1016 from the electronic tag1002-1. In some implementations, the control device 1000 processes thereceived signal 1016 to determine the location and/or motion ofelectronic tag 1002-1. In some implementations, the control device 1000sends information regarding radio signals 1014 and 1016 to anotherdevice (e.g., a device of server system 508) for processing.

At a fourth time, the control device 1000 transmits a second enablesignal 1018 via the sideband. The electronic tag 1002-2 receives thesecond enable signal 1018. In some implementations, the electronic tag1002-2 determines that the second enable signal 1018 is intended for theelectronic tag 1002-2. In response to receiving the second enable signal1018, or in response to determining that the signal 1018 was intendedfor the electronic tag 1002-2, the electronic tag 1002-2 enables (1020)its radar circuitry.

At a fifth time, the control device 1000 transmits a radio signal 1022using its radar circuitry. The electronic tag 1002-2 receives the radiosignal 1022. In some implementations, the electronic tag 1002-2 modifiesthe received radio signal 1022. In some implementations, the electronictag 1002-2 transmits the modified radio signal 1024. In someimplementations, the electronic tag 1002-2 transmits a radio pulse ortone signal 1024 in response to receiving the radio signal 1022.Subsequent to sending radio signal 1024, the electronic tag 1002-2disables (1025) its radar circuitry.

The control device 1000 receives the signal 1024 from the electronic tag1002-2. In some implementations, the control device 1000 processes thereceived signal 1024 to determine the location and/or motion ofelectronic tag 1002-2. In some implementations, the control device 1000sends information regarding radio signals 1022 and 1024 to anotherdevice (e.g., a device of server system 508) for processing.

FIG. 10C illustrates a representative system and process for utilizing aradar tag, in accordance with some implementations. The control device1000 obtains (1032) identification for the electronic tag 1002-1. Insome implementations, the identification is obtained via an application,such as a smart home application, on a client device 504. In someimplementations, the client device 504 scans a barcode or QR code of theelectronic tag 1002-1 and transmits the scanned information to thecontrol device 1000.

The control device 1000 sends (1034) a request with the identificationinformation to enable the electronic tag 1002-1. In someimplementations, the request is sent via a first communications channel(e.g., RFID). In some implementations, the control device 1000 encrypts(1036) the request prior to sending.

The electronic tag 1002-1 receives (1038) the request to enable theelectronic tag 1002-1. The electronic tag determines (1040) that theenable request was intended for the electronic tag 1002-1. In someimplementations, prior to determining whether the enable request wasintended for the electronic tag 1002-1, the electronic tag 1002-1decrypts (1042) the enablement request. In some implementations,determining that the enable request was intended for the electronic tag1002-1 includes comparing the identification information in the requestwith device identification stored at electronic tag 1002-1.

In accordance with the determination that the enable request wasintended for the electronic tag 1002-1, the electronic tag 1002-1enables (1044) its radar circuitry. In some implementations enabling theradar circuitry comprises supplying power to one or more components ofthe radar circuitry. In some implementations, enabling the radarcircuitry comprises configuring the radar circuitry to respond toreceived radio signals (e.g., received radio signals having a particularfrequency or within a particular frequency range).

The control device 1000 transmits (1046) a radio signal. In someimplementations, the control device 1000 utilizes radar circuitry totransmit the radio signal.

The electronic tag 1002-1 receives (1048) the radio signal. In someimplementations, the radio signal is received via the radar circuitry ofthe electronic tag 1002-1. In some implementations, the electronic tag1002-2 modifies (1050) the received radio signal. In someimplementations, modifying the received radio signal includes amplifyingand/or modulating the received radio signal. The electronic tag 1002-1transmits (1052) a radio signal corresponding to the radio signaltransmitted by the control device 1000. In some implementations, thetransmitted signal includes the modified signal. In someimplementations, the transmitted signal includes a radio tone and/orpulse generated by the electronic tag 1002-1.

The control device 1000 receives (1054) the radio signal transmitted bythe electronic tag 1002-1. In some implementations, the control device1000 processes the received radio signal to determine a location andmotion of the electronic tag 1002-1. In some implementations, thecontrol device 1000 transmits information regarding its transmittedradio signal the radio signal received from the electronic tag 1002-1 toa second device or server system (e.g., server system 508) forprocessing.

In some implementations, the control device 1000 obtains information(e.g., during a registration process) regarding an object to which eachelectronic tag 1002 is affixed. For example, the control device 1000obtains information that the electronic tag 1002-1 is affixed to a wall;information that the electronic tag 1002-2 is affixed to a window; andinformation that the electronic tag 1002-3 is affixed to a door. In someimplementations, the control device 1000 utilizes the object informationin processing received radar signals. For example, the control device1000 ignores radar information related to objects beyond the wall towhich the electronic tag 1002-1 is affixed.

In some implementations, the control device 1000 is configured to enableeach of the electronic tags 1002 at particular times (or at particulartime intervals) to reduce interference between electronic tagcommunications. For example, the control device 1000 is configured suchthat only one electronic tag is communicating via radar at a given time.In some implementations, the control device 1000 sends enablementsignals to enable radar communication for a particular electronic tag.In some implementations, the control device 1000 sends disable signalsto disable radar communication for a particular electronic tag.

In some implementations, each of the electronic tags 1002 is configuredto communicate via radar at set intervals. In some implementations, theintervals are set by the control device 1000 such that only oneelectronic tag 1002 is communicating at a given time. In someimplementations, the intervals are based at least in part on the objectto which the electronic tag is affixed. For example, in accordance withsome implementations, an electronic tag affixed to a wall communicatesonce per day while an electronic tag affixed to a window communicatesonce per minute.

In some implementations, an electronic tag 1002 communicates via radarin response to stimulus received at a sensor of the electronic tag. Forexample, the electronic tag 1002-3 communicates via radar in response todetecting movement of the door (e.g., via an accelerometer) to which itis affixed. In some implementations, the electronic tag 1002 detectsmovement of the object to which it is affixed and, in response, sends anotification to the control device 1000 (e.g., via a sideband). In someimplementations, the control device 1000 receives the notification and,in response, transmits a radio signal for use in radar analysis.

In some implementations, the control device 1000 uses the radarcommunications from the electronic tags 1002 in conjunction with otherradar signals to improve the accuracy and precision of the radar system.For example, the control device 1000 detects slight movement of the doorto which the tag 1002-3 is affixed during a particular time frame. Inthis example, during the same time frame, the tag 1002-3 transmits asignal, and the control device 1000 utilizes the detected movement ofthe door and the signal from the tag 1002-3 to map the movement of thedoor (e.g., with greater precision/accuracy than a mapping based on justthe detected movement of the door).

In some implementations, an electronic tag, such as electronic tag1002-3, is affixed (e.g., temporarily) to an object and a registrationsignal is sent to the control device 1000. In some implementations, theregistration signal is sent via an application (e.g., a smart homeapplication) on a mobile device, such as client device 504. In someimplementations, the registration signal includes information about theobject to which the electronic tag is affixed (e.g., identifying theobject as a door, window, or wall). In some implementations, controldevice 1000 completes the registration process by processing theregistration information and radar information received from theelectronic tag to classify the object to which the electronic tag isaffixed and/or determine the object's location relative to the controldevice 1000. In some implementations, the classification and/or locationinformation is used for future radar processing. In someimplementations, after the registration process is completed, theelectronic tag is not used in future radar processing of the object. Insome implementations, after the registration process is completed, theelectronic tag is used to register one or more additional objects.

In some implementations, an electronic tag (e.g., electronic tag 1002-1)for affixing to an object and imparting a radar signature for the objectincludes a first circuit configured to communicate with one or moreother devices at a first frequency (e.g., communication circuitry 903,FIG. 9B). In some implementations the first circuit includes: (a) one ormore antennas configured to communicate at the first frequency (e.g.,receiver 905); and (b) a first controller coupled to the one or moreantennas (e.g., controller 911) and configured to govern the one or moreantennas. In some implementations, the electronic tag includes a secondcircuit configured to communicate with the one or more other devices viaradar (e.g., radar circuitry 913). In some implementations, the secondcircuit includes: (a) one or more second antennas configured tocommunicate via radar (e.g., receiver 915 and/or transmitter 917); (b) asecond controller coupled to the one or more second antennas and thefirst controller (e.g., controller 919) and configured to communicatewith the first controller and to govern the one or more second antennas.

In some implementations, the first controller is further configured to:(1) receive a command from another device via the one or more antennas;(2) determine whether the command was intended for the electronic tag(e.g., based on a unique ID of the electronic device); (3) in accordancewith a determination that the command was intended for the electronictag, operate in accordance with the command; and (4) in accordance witha determination that the command was not intended for the electronictag, disregard the command.

In some implementations, the command comprises a command to enable radarcommunication, and wherein the first controller operating in accordancewith the command comprises the first controller communicating theenablement command to the second controller. In some implementations,the command includes a recipient identification, and wherein the firstcontroller determining whether the command was intended for theelectronic tag comprises comparing the recipient identification with anidentification of the electronic tag. In some implementations, thecommand is encrypted, and wherein the first controller is furtherconfigured to decrypt the command.

In some implementations, the first circuit further includes a decoderconfigured to decode signals received via the one or more antennas. Insome implementations, the decoder is further configured to decryptcommands. In some implementations, the decoder is further configured todetermine whether the command was intended for the electronic device. Insome implementations, the decoder is a component of the firstcontroller. In some implementations, the second controller is furtherconfigured to encrypt information sent via the one or more secondantennas.

In some implementations, the electronic tag includes an energy storagecircuit coupled to the first circuit and the second circuit andconfigured to provide power to the first circuit and the second circuit.

In some implementations, the energy storage circuit includes at leastone of: (i) one or more capacitors; (ii) one or more batteries; (iii)circuitry configured to harvest energy from signals received via anantenna of the electronic tag (e.g., one of the one or more antennas,one of the one or more second antennas, or a third antenna dedicated toharvesting); and (iv) circuitry configured to harvest thermal,vibrational, electromagnetic, and/or solar energy received by theelectronic tag.

In some implementations, the second controller is further configured toselectively enable radar communication via the one or more secondantennas comprising at least one of: (i) reflecting received radio waves(e.g., at a given wavelength); (ii) amplifying received radio waves;(iii) modulating received radio waves; and (iv) generating radio waves.In some implementations, the second controller is configured to enableradar communication in response to receiving an enablement command fromthe first controller.

In some implementations, the second circuit further includes a modulatorconfigured to modulate radio waves received via the one or more secondantennas. In some implementations, the second circuit further includes asignal generator configured to generate radio waves at a particularfrequency.

In some implementations, the electronic tag further includes one or moreadditional sensors coupled to the first controller, the one or moreadditional sensors including at least one of: a humidity sensor; atemperature sensor; an accelerometer; a gyroscope; and an opticalsensor.

In some implementations, the first circuit is configured to transmit taginformation via the one or more antennas (e.g., tag state informationsuch as battery life, sensor readings, etc.). In some implementations,the second circuit is configured to transmit tag information via the oneor more second antennas (e.g., tag state information such as batterylife, sensor readings, etc.).

In some implementations, the electronic tag comprises a passive tag,such as a corner reflector or printed radar tag. In someimplementations, passive tags modulate an incoming radio signal. Themodulated incoming signal is reflected back toward the transmittingdevice (e.g., control device 1000). In some implementations, the signalis modulated such that when the radar system analyzes the reflectedsignal the tag appears to be moving at a particular speed.

FIG. 10D is a prophetic diagram of radar data, in accordance with someimplementations. FIG. 10D shows detected velocities of various objectsbased on received radar data. In FIG. 10D most of the detected objectsare either stationary or have little velocity. Two objects, object 1060and object 1062, are detected with high velocities. The detected object1060 is detected a distance d₁ with a large negative velocity indicatingthat it is moving away from the radar device. The detected object 1062is detected at a distance d₂ with a large positive velocity indicatingthat it is moving toward the radar device.

In accordance with some implementations, the detected objects 1060 and1062 represent passive radar tags. The passive radar tags are configuredto modulate incoming radio waves such that they appear to be moving withhigh velocity even when the tag itself is stationary. The apparentvelocity of the radar tag due to the modulation is sometimes called aphantom velocity. Each radar tag is optionally configured such that itsmodulation produces a distinct phantom velocity. In someimplementations, the radar device determines that the velocities ofobjects 1060 and 1062 are phantom velocities based on the value of eachvelocity. For example, a radar-equipped device installed within a smarthome environment detects an object with a velocity of 30 miles per hour.Since objects within the smart home generally do not move at such highvelocities, the radar-equipped device determines that the velocity is aphantom velocity and the object is a radar tag. In some implementations,the radar-equipped device determines that the velocities of objects 1060and 1062 are phantom velocities based on the constant location of theobjects. For example, a radar-equipped device performs a first scan anddetects the object 1060 at distance d₁ with an apparently high velocity.The radar-equipped device performs a second scan at a later time andagain detects the object 1060 at distance d₁. Because the object 1060 isat the same distance in both scans the velocity is determined to be aphantom velocity. In some implementations, the radar-equipped devicestores a list of radar tag information with each tag's expected distanceand/or expected phantom velocity (e.g., obtained during a registrationprocess for the radar tags). In some implementations, the radar-equippeddevice compares the list of radar tag information with the detectedresults to identify any detected tags.

In some implementations, a radar tag is affixed to an object such as adoor or window. In some instances, the object to which the device isaffixed is in motion during a radar scan. In these circumstances, thedetected velocity of the radar tag includes both a phantom velocity dueto the modulation of the radio signal and an actual velocity of theobject to which the radar tag is attached. In some implementations, theradar-equipped device identifies the actual velocity component andassociates it with the object to which the radar tag is affixed. Forexample, the radar tag is affixed to a door and the radar-equippeddevice determines that the radar tag is moving 1 inch per second. Inthis example, the radar-equipped device associates the 1 inch per secondmovement with the door and optionally alerts a user of the smart homeenvironment that movement of the door has been detected. In someimplementations, the radar-equipped device identifies the actualvelocity component based on the radar tag's detected distance (e.g.,detected distance over a period of time). In some implementations, theradar-equipped device identifies the actual velocity component based onan expected phantom velocity for the radar tag.

In some implementations, a radar tag is configured such that itoptionally selectively modulates incoming radio waves to exhibit one ofa plurality of different phantom velocities. For example, a particularradar tag may be configured to operate in a first state where itexhibits a phantom velocity of 10 miles per hour; operate in a secondstate where it exhibits a phantom velocity of 15 miles per hour; oroperate in a third state where it exhibits a phantom velocity of 20miles per hour. In some implementations, the operating state of theradar tag is governed by a control device, such as control device 1000.In some implementations, the operating state of the radar tag isconfigured during a registration process.

In some implementations, a method is performed at a computing systemhaving one or more processors and memory (e.g., control device 1000).The method comprises (1) sending a request via a first transmitter toenable a remote radar device (e.g., electronic tag 1002-1); and (2) inresponse to the request, receiving via a radar receiver a radiocommunication from the radar device.

In some implementations, the method further comprises: (1) obtainingidentification for the remote radar device; and (2) encrypting theidentification; where sending the request comprises sending theencrypted identification.

In some implementations, the method further comprises, after receivingthe radio communication from the radar device, sending a request via thefirst transmitter to enable a second remote radar device.

In some implementations, the method further comprises, after receivingthe radio communication from the radar device, sending a request via thefirst transmitter to disable radio communication by the radar device(e.g., to prevent interference with communication by a second radardevice).

In some implementations, the method further comprises: (1) prior tosending the request, receiving a registration request for the remoteradar device; and (2) in response to receiving the registration request,determining a location of the remote radar device.

In some implementations, determining the location of the remote radardevice comprises determining the location of the remote radar devicebased on the received radio communication.

In some implementations, the registration request is received via anapplication (e.g., an application on a mobile device).

In some implementations, the registration request includes informationregarding an object to which the remote radar device is affixed (e.g.,attached to a door, window, wall, or the like).

In some implementations, the computing system comprises a smart device(e.g., smart device 204).

In some implementations, the smart device comprises one of: athermostat; a camera; a hub device; a hazard detector; an irrigationdevice; media playback device; entryway interface device; appliance; ora security device.

In some implementations, the radio communication comprises at least oneof: (i) a reflection of a radio signal transmitted by the computingdevice; (ii) a modulation of a radio signal transmitted by the computingdevice; and (iii) a radio signal generated at the remote radar device(e.g., a tone or pulse).

In some implementations, the radio communication includes informationregarding operation of the remote radar device (e.g., sensor readoutinformation).

In some implementations, the method further comprises receiving via afirst receiver, communications from the radar device (e.g., statusinformation).

In some implementations, a method performed at an electronic device(e.g., electronic tag 1002-1), comprises: (1) receiving, via a firstreceiver, an enablement request from a remote device (e.g., controldevice 1000); (2) determining whether the enablement request wasintended for the electronic device; (3) in accordance with adetermination that the enablement request was not intended for theelectronic device, disregarding the enablement request; and (4) inaccordance with a determination that the enablement request was intendedfor the electronic device, communicating with the remote device viaradar.

In some implementations, the enablement request is encrypted, and themethod further comprises decrypting the enablement request.

In some implementations, determining whether the enablement request wasintended for the electronic device comprises comparing an identificationof the electronic device to identification in the enablement request.

In some implementations, the enablement request includes timinginformation for communicating with the remote device via radar, and themethod further comprises communicating with the remote device via radarin accordance with the received timing information (e.g., send pulseevery minute, hour, or day).

In some implementations, the method further comprises encryptinginformation to be sent via to the remote device, and communicating withthe remote device via radar comprises communicating the encryptedinformation.

In some implementations, the method further comprises: (1) storingenergy received via one or more antennas of the electronic device; and(2) utilizing the stored energy to communicate with the remote devicevia radar.

In some implementations, communicating with the remote device via radarincludes at least one of: reflecting received radio waves; amplifyingreceived radio waves; modulating received radio waves; and generatingradio waves.

Attention is now directed to the flowchart representations of FIGS.11A-11C and 12. FIGS. 11A-11C are flowcharts illustrating a method 1100for utilizing radar communications, in accordance with someimplementations. FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method 1200 forutilizing radar communications at an electronic tag, in accordance withsome implementations.

In some implementations, the method 1100 is performed by: (1) one ormore electronic devices of one or more systems, such as the devices of asmart home environment 100, FIG. 1; (2) one or more computing systems,such as smart home provider server system 164 of FIG. 1 and/or serversystem 508 of FIG. 5; or (3) a combination thereof. In someimplementations, the method 1100 is governed by instructions that arestored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and that areexecuted by one or more processors of a device/computing system, such asthe one or more CPU(s) 602 of hub device 180 (FIG. 6) and/or the one ormore CPU(s) 902 of smart device 204 (FIG. 9A). For convenience, theoperations detailed below are described as being performed by acomputing system.

The computing system (e.g., control device 1000, FIG. 10C) obtains(1102) registration information for a plurality of electronic devices.In some implementations, the computing system comprises a smart deviceselected from a group consisting of: a camera; a hub device; a smartthermostat; a smart security device; an entryway interface device; and asmart hazard detector. In some implementations, the registrationinformation for each electronic device includes a unique identifier ofthe device. In some implementations, the registration informationincludes one or more of: (1) information regarding the owner of thedevice; (2) the location, positioning, and/or placement of the device;(3) an intended purpose of the device (e.g., specified by the deviceowner); and (4) operating parameters of the device. In someimplementations, the registration information includes the electronicdevice's expected distance and/or expected phantom velocity with regardsto the computing system.

In some implementations, the plurality of electronic devices includes(1104) a plurality of radar tags (also sometimes called electronictags). For example, in accordance with some implementations, theplurality of electronic devices includes one or more electronic tags1002 (FIG. 10A).

In some implementations, the computing system receives (1106) theregistration information via a smart home application (e.g., installedon a smart phone). In some implementations, the registration informationis obtained by scanning a QR code on the electronic devices (e.g., witha smart phone). In some implementations, the information from the QRcode and, optionally, additional information, such as informationregarding what type of object the device is affixed to, is then relayedto the computing system. In some implementations, a pull-tab and scanmethod is used to obtain the registration information. In someimplementations, an activation button and scan method is used.

In some implementations, the computing system obtains deviceidentification information for the plurality of electronic devices. Insome implementations, the device identification information includesinformation regarding what type of object the device is affixed to.

The computing system transmits (1108), via a first communicationchannel, a request based on the registration information that aparticular electronic device of the plurality of electronic devicestransmit via a radar channel (also sometimes called a radarcommunications channel or a radar positioning channel). For example, inaccordance with some implementations, the smart device 204 in FIG. 9Atransmits the request utilizing communications module 942 in conjunctionwith device communication module 922. In some implementations,transmitting the request via the first communication channel comprisestransmitting an enable signal with a device identification of theparticular electronic device. For example, the computing systemtransmits a request that only the particular device (identified in therequest) utilize the radar channel during a particular time window. Insome implementations, each electronic device has a unique identifier,and in response to the enablement signal each device compares its uniqueidentifier to a transmitted identifier in the request. In someimplementations, the communicating via the radar channel comprisesutilizing frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar, phasemodulated continuous wave (PMCW) radar, step continuous wave radar, orthe like.

In some implementations, the computing system broadcasts, via a standardwireless communication protocol, a request based on the deviceidentification information that a particular electronic device of theplurality of electronic devices be enabled to transmit or reflectlocation information using a radar technique. In some implementations,the standard wireless communication protocol comprises a Wi-Fi protocol,a Bluetooth protocol, an RFID protocol, an IEEE 802.15.4 protocol, orthe like. In some implementations, broadcasting the request comprisesconcurrently transmitting the request to all electronic devices withinsignal range. In some implementations, the radar technique comprisesanalyzing time-of-flight, analyzing phase shift, analyzing amplitude,and/or analyzing Doppler frequency shift(s).

In some implementations, the computing system transmits (1110) a requestthat the other electronic devices of the plurality of electronic devicesnot transmit via the radar communication channel. In someimplementations, the computing system transmits separate requests toeach device requesting that the device transmit, or not, during aparticular time window.

In some implementations, the computing system transmits a single requestto transmit with a device identifier included. Each electronic devicecompares its identifier to the included identifier, and if theidentifiers match the electronic device determines that it shouldtransmit during the time window. If the identifiers do not match, theelectronic device determines that it should not transmit during the timewindow.

In some implementations, the computing device transmits a radar scheduleto the plurality of the electronic devices. The radar schedule includesa time window for each electronic device to transmit via the radarchannel. In some implementations, the computing device ensures that onlyone electronic device is transmitting on the radar channel at a giventime. In some implementations, the computing device directs multipleelectronic devices to transmit concurrently. For example, eachelectronic device outputs a distinct radar signal (e.g., a distinctphantom velocity) and the computing device is configured to determinewhich received signal came from which device.

In some implementations, the first communication channel comprises(1112) a wireless communication channel selected from a group consistingof: a Wi-Fi communication channel; a Bluetooth communication channel; anRFID communication channel; and an IEEE 802.15.4 communication channel.

The computing system receives (1314), via the radar channel, a signalfrom the particular electronic device (e.g., comprising positioninginformation). For example, in accordance with some implementations, thesmart device 204 in FIG. 9A receives the signal from the particularelectronic device utilizing communications module 942 in conjunctionwith radio communication module 924 and/or radar module 944.

In some implementations, the computing system receives a signal from theparticular electronic device, the signal indicating a location of theparticular electronic device using a radar technique. In someimplementations, the radar technique comprises analyzing time-of-flight,analyzing phase shift, analyzing amplitude, and/or analyzing Dopplerfrequency shift(s).

In some implementations, the signal from the particular electronicdevice comprises (1316) one or more of: a single tone on a radar band(e.g., a frequency band designated for radar communications); anamplification of a received radio signal; a modulation of a receivedradio signal; and a pulse on the radar band. In some implementations,the particular electronic device transmits the single tone for apredetermined amount of time. The computing device receives this toneand extrapolates positioning and movement information for the electronicdevice. In some implementations, the particular electronic devicetransmits the single tone until the computing system transmits a stopcommand. In some implementations, after the computing systemextrapolates positioning and/or movement information from the receivedsignal, the computing system transmits a request to the particularelectronic device to cease transmitting via the radar channel.

The computing system determines (1318) the location of the particularelectronic device based on the received signal. In some implementations,the particular electronic device outputs a phantom velocity and thecomputing system determines the location of the electronic device bycomparing the received phantom velocity with a registered phantomvelocity for the particular electronic device. In some implementations,the computing system determines a location and/or movement of theparticular electronic device by comparing parameters in the receivedsignal with parameters previously received from the particularelectronic device (e.g., received during a prior radar transmission orreceived during registration).

In some implementations, the computing system transmits (1320), via thefirst communication channel, a request that a second electronic deviceof the plurality of electronic devices transmit via the radarcommunication channel. In some implementations, the computing systemtransmits the request to the second electronic device concurrently withthe request for the particular electronic device. In someimplementations, the computing system transmits the request to thesecond electronic device after receiving a response from the particularelectronic device to the request directed to the particular electronicdevice. In some implementations, the computing system receives (1322),via the radar channel, a signal from the second electronic device. Insome implementations, the computing system determines (1324) a locationof the second electronic device based on the received signal. In someimplementations, the computing system cycles through the plurality ofelectronic device to determine the location and/or movement of eachelectronic device in turn. In some implementations, the computing systemconcurrently determines the location and/or movement of at least asubset of the electronic device.

In some implementations, after determining the location of theparticular electronic device, the computing system monitors (1326) thelocation of the particular electronic device. For example, the computingsystem periodically sends requests to the electronic device to transmitvia the radar channel. The computing system receives responses from theelectronic device and extrapolates location and/or movement informationfrom the responses to monitor the location of the particular electronicdevice. In some implementations, the particular electronic device isconfigured to periodically transmit via the radar channel. In someimplementations, the particular electronic device is configured totransmit via the radar channel in response to certain stimuli, such asmotion of the particular electronic device (e.g., detected via anaccelerator on the electronic device), or changes in temperature,lighting, and/or humidity.

In some implementations, the computing system receives (1328), via theradar channel, a second signal from the particular electronic device. Insome implementations, the computing system determines (1330) whether thelocation of the particular electronic device has changed based on thesecond signal. In some implementations, monitoring the location of theparticular electronic device comprises receiving information from theparticular electronic device at preset intervals. In someimplementations, monitoring the location of the particular electronicdevice comprises using the first communication channel to request thatthe particular electronic device transmit via the radar channel (e.g.,at preset intervals, or in response to activity in the vicinity). Insome implementations, the second signal is in response to a secondrequest or a transmitted radio signal (e.g., is anamplification/modulation of the radio signal).

In some implementations, after determining the location of theparticular electronic device and in accordance with a determination thatthe particular electronic device is affixed to a wall, the computingsystem disregards (1332) activity beyond the particular electronicdevice. For example, the particular electronic device is affixed to awall separating two apartments and the computing device forgoesmonitoring activity in the apartment beyond the wall. In accordance withsome implementations, the control device 1000 in FIG. 10A disregardsactivity beyond the wall to which electronic tag 1002-1 is affixed.

In some implementations, after determining the location of theparticular electronic device, the computing system transmits (1334) acommand for the particular electronic device to enter a low power mode.In some implementations, the particular device does not transmit via theradar channel while in the low power mode. In some implementations, theparticular device includes radar circuitry (e.g., radar circuitry 913,FIG. 9B) and the radar circuitry is not powered (or not fully powered)while in low power mode.

In some implementations, the computing system obtains (1336) informationregarding an object (e.g., a door, wall, ceiling, or window) to whichthe particular electronic device is affixed. In some implementations,the computing system obtains (1336) information regarding an entity(e.g., a person, animal, or pet) to which the particular electronicdevice is affixed. In some implementations, the computing system obtainsthe information during registration of the particular electronic device.For example, during a registration process, a user of the electronicdevice specifies an object or entity to which the particular electronictag is attached.

In some implementations, the computing system monitors (1338) movementof the object by utilizing the information regarding the object (orentity) and the determined location of the particular electronic device.In some implementations, the electronic tag is assigned a tag type basedon the object to which it is affixed. For example, a tag affixed to awall is denoted as a wall tag, and radar information beyond the tag isoptionally disregarded, and a tag affixed to a window is denoted as anentryway tag. In some implementations, the electronic tag's operatingmode is based at least in part on the assigned type. For example, inaccordance with some implementations, an electronic tag assigned to adoor operates in an entryway monitoring mode. While in the entrywaymonitoring mode, the electronic tag generates a signal on the radarchannel in response to motion of the electronic tag. In this example, asecond electronic tag is assigned to a household pet and operates in apet mode. While in the pet mode, the electronic tag generates a signalon the radar channel in response to only specific types of motion (or alack of motion). In some implementations, the tag type is assigned via asmart home application. For example, a user of the electronic tagdenotes the tag as having a particular type within the smart homeapplication on the user's smart phone.

In some implementations, the computing device includes an electronicdevice configured to communicate with an electronic tag, comprising: (1)a first circuit configured to communicate with the electronic tag at afirst frequency; and (2) a radar circuit configured to transmit andreceive radio signals.

In some implementations, the electronic device comprises at least oneof: a thermostat; a camera; a hub device; a hazard detector; anirrigation device; media playback device; entryway interface device;appliance; and a security device.

In some implementations, the method 1200 is performed by an electronictag (e.g., electronic tag 206, FIG. 9B). In some implementations, themethod 1200 is governed by instructions that are stored in anon-transitory computer readable storage medium and that are executed byone or more processors of an electronic tag, such as controller 911 ofelectronic tag 206 (FIG. 9B). For convenience, the operations detailedbelow are described as being performed by an electronic tag.

In some implementations, an electronic tag operates (1202) in a lowpower mode. In some implementations, operating in the low power modecomprises powering off and/or disabling radar circuitry (e.g., radarcircuitry 913). In some implementations, the electronic tag operates ina low power mode prior to receiving a request directed to the electronictag (e.g., from a control device 1000, FIG. 10A). In someimplementations, the electronic tag operates in the low power mode afterresponding to a request.

The electronic tag receives (1204), via a first communication channel, arequest to transmit via a radar channel, the request comprising deviceidentification information. For example, in accordance with someimplementations, the electronic tag 206 in FIG. 9B receives the requestvia communication circuitry 903. In some implementations, the deviceidentification information is received via a second request (e.g., sentin conjunction with the request to transmit). In some implementations,the device identification information is formatted into the request.

In some implementations, the electronic tag receives, via a standardwireless communication protocol, a request from an electronic device tobe enabled to transmit or reflect location information using a radartechnique, the request including device identification information. Insome implementations, the standard wireless communication protocolcomprises a Wi-Fi protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, an RFID protocol, anIEEE 802.15.4 protocol, or the like. In some implementations, the radartechnique comprises analyzing time-of-flight, analyzing phase shift,analyzing amplitude, and/or analyzing Doppler frequency shift(s).

In some implementations, in accordance with a determination that thereceived device identification information is encrypted, the electronictag decrypts (1206) the request. In some implementations, the request isencrypted and the electronic tag decrypts the request utilizing adecoder (e.g., decoder 907). In some implementations, the encryptioncomprises the device identification information.

The electronic tag determines (1208) whether the received deviceidentification information matches device identification information forthe electronic tag. In some implementations, the device identificationinformation for the electronic tag is stored at the tag. For example, inaccordance with some implementations, the electronic tag 206 in FIG. 9Bstores device identification information within decoder 907 (e.g.,hard-coded within the electronic tag).

In some implementations, after determining that the received deviceidentification information matches the device identification informationfor the electronic tag, the electronic tag operates (1210) in a radarmode, where operating in the radar mode consumes more power thanoperating in the low power mode. In some implementations, the electronictag operates in the radar mode in accordance with a determination thatthe received device identification information matches the deviceidentification information for the electronic tag. In someimplementations, operating in the radar mode comprises powering theradar circuitry (e.g., radar circuitry 913). In some implementations,operating in the radar mode comprises operating the radar circuitry(e.g., transmitting a signal utilizing the radar circuitry).

In some implementations, in accordance with a determination that thereceived device identification information does not match the deviceidentification information for the electronic tag, the electronic tagdisregards the request. In some implementations, in accordance with adetermination that the received device identification information doesnot match the device identification information for the electronic tag,the electronic tag forgoes transmitting via the radar channel during aparticular time window (e.g., a time window specified in the request).

The electronic tag, in accordance with a determination that the receiveddevice identification information matches the device identificationinformation for the electronic tag, causes (1212) a signal to betransmitted via the radar channel. In some implementations, causing asignal to be transmitted includes generating and transmitting a presetphantom velocity (e.g., a phantom velocity 1060 or 1062, FIG. 10D).

In some implementations, in accordance with a determination that thereceived device identification information matches the deviceidentification information for the electronic tag, the electronic tagcauses a signal to be transmitted, the signal indicating the location ofthe electronic tag using a radar technique. In some implementations, theradar technique comprises analyzing time-of-flight, analyzing phaseshift, analyzing amplitude, and/or analyzing Doppler frequency shift(s).In some implementations, causing the signal to be transmitted includestransmitting a preset phantom velocity (e.g., a phantom velocity 1060 or1062, FIG. 10D). In some implementations, causing the signal to betransmitted includes modulating and reflecting an incoming radio signalsuch that a preset phantom velocity is present in the reflected signal.

In some implementations, the electronic tag modulates (1214) a signalreceived via the radar channel (e.g., a signal originating at a controldevice, such as control device 1000). In some implementations,transmitting the signal via the radar channel comprises modulating asignal received via the radar channel. In some implementations,transmitting the signal via the radar channel comprises amplifying areceived signal. In some implementations, transmitting the signal viathe radar channel comprises transmitting a tone or pulse with a presetfrequency and/or duration.

In some implementations, the electronic tag includes: (1) a firstcircuit (e.g., communication circuitry 903) configured to communicatewith one or more other devices via a first communications channel, thefirst circuit including: (a) one or more antennas (e.g., receiver 905)configured to communicate at a first frequency corresponding to thefirst communications channel; and (b) a first controller (e.g.,controller 911) coupled to the one or more antennas, the firstcontroller configured to govern the one or more antennas; and (2) asecond circuit (e.g., radar circuitry 913) configured to communicatewith the one or more other devices via radar, the second circuitincluding: (a) one or more second antennas (e.g., receiver 915 and/ortransmitter 917) configured to communicate via radar; and (b) a secondcontroller (e.g., controller 919) coupled to the one or more secondantennas and the first controller, the second controller configured tocommunicate with the first controller and to govern the one or moresecond antennas.

In some implementations, the first controller is configured to: (1)receive a command from another device (e.g., controller device 1000) viathe one or more antennas; (2) determine whether the command was intendedfor the electronic tag; (3) in accordance with a determination that thecommand was intended for the electronic tag, operate in accordance withthe command; and (4) in accordance with a determination that the commandwas not intended for the electronic tag, disregard the command.

In some implementations, the command comprises a command to enable radarcommunication, and wherein the first controller operating in accordancewith the command comprises the first controller communicating anenablement command to the second controller.

In some implementations, the command includes a recipientidentification, and wherein the first controller determining whether thecommand was intended for the electronic tag comprises comparing therecipient identification with an identification of the electronic tag.

In some implementations, the command is encrypted, and the firstcontroller is further configured to decrypt the command. In someimplementations, the first circuit further includes a decoder configuredto decode and/or decrypt signals received via the one or more antennas.In some implementations, the second controller is further configured toencrypt information sent via the one or more second antennas.

In some implementations, the electronic tag further includes an energystorage circuit coupled to the first circuit and the second circuit andconfigured to provide power to the first circuit and the second circuit.In some implementations, the energy storage circuit includes at leastone of: (1) one or more capacitors; (2) one or more batteries; (3)circuitry configured to harvest energy from signals received via anantenna of the electronic tag; and (4) circuitry configured to harvestthermal, vibrational, electromagnetic, and/or solar energy received bythe electronic tag.

In some implementations, the second controller is further configured toselectively enable radar communication via the one or more secondantennas, the radar communication comprising at least one of: (1)reflecting received radio waves; (2) amplifying received radio waves;(3) modulating received radio waves; and (4) generating radio waves. Insome implementations, the second circuit further includes a modulatorconfigured to modulate radio waves received via the one or more secondantennas. In some implementations, the second circuit further includes asignal generator configured to generate radio waves at a particularfrequency.

In some implementations, the electronic tag further includes one or moreadditional sensors coupled to the first controller, the one or moreadditional sensors including at least one of: a humidity sensor; atemperature sensor; an accelerometer; a gyroscope; and an opticalsensor.

In some implementations, the first circuit is configured to transmit taginformation via the one or more antennas. In some implementations, thesecond circuit is configured to transmit tag information via the one ormore second antennas.

For situations in which the systems discussed above collect informationabout users, the users may be provided with an opportunity to opt in/outof programs or features that may collect personal information (e.g.,information about a user's preferences or usage of a smart device). Inaddition, in some implementations, certain data may be anonymized in oneor more ways before it is stored or used, so that personallyidentifiable information is removed. For example, a user's identity maybe anonymized so that the personally identifiable information cannot bedetermined for or associated with the user, and so that user preferencesor user interactions are generalized (for example, generalized based onuser demographics) rather than associated with a particular user.

Although some of various drawings illustrate a number of logical stagesin a particular order, stages that are not order dependent may bereordered and other stages may be combined or broken out. While somereordering or other groupings are specifically mentioned, others will beobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art, so the ordering andgroupings presented herein are not an exhaustive list of alternatives.Moreover, it should be recognized that the stages could be implementedin hardware, firmware, software or any combination thereof.

It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc.are, in some instances, used herein to describe various elements, theseelements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only usedto distinguish one element from another. For example, a first type ofsignal could be termed a second type of signal, and, similarly, a secondtype of signal could be termed a first type of signal, without departingfrom the scope of the various described implementations.

The terminology used in the description of the various describedimplementations herein is for the purpose of describing particularimplementations only and is not intended to be limiting. As used in thedescription of the various described implementations and the appendedclaims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to includethe plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will also be understood that the term “and/or” as usedherein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items. It will be furtherunderstood that the terms “includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and/or“comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term “if” is, optionally, construed to mean “when”or “upon” or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting”or “in accordance with a determination that,” depending on the context.Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [a stated conditionor event] is detected” is, optionally, construed to mean “upondetermining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [thestated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the statedcondition or event]” or “in accordance with a determination that [astated condition or event] is detected,” depending on the context.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific implementations. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the scope of the claims to the precise forms disclosed. Manymodifications and variations are possible in view of the aboveteachings. The implementations were chosen in order to best explain theprinciples underlying the claims and their practical applications, tothereby enable others skilled in the art to best use the implementationswith various modifications as are suited to the particular usescontemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for determining a position or velocityof a radar- and wirelessly-enabled electronic device, comprising: at acomputing system having one or more processors and memory: obtainingdevice identification information for the electronic device;broadcasting a request based on the device identification informationthat the electronic device be enabled to transmit or reflect positioninginformation using one or more radar techniques; receiving a radar signalfrom the electronic device, the radar signal indicating a positionand/or velocity of the electronic device in accordance with using theone or more radar techniques; and determining the positioning and/orvelocity of the electronic device based on the received signal; whereindetermining the positioning includes determining one or more of locationand orientation, and wherein determining the velocity includesdetermining one or more of speed and trajectory.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the electronic device comprises a radar tag, wherein theradar tag comprises: a first component configured to communicate withthe computing system via a wireless communication protocol; and a secondcomponent configured to convey the positioning information to thecomputing system using the one or more radar techniques.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein obtaining the device identification information forthe electronic device comprises receiving the device identificationinformation via an application executing on a client device.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises: a camera; ahub device; a smart thermostat; a smart security device; an entrywayinterface device; and/or a smart hazard detector.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein broadcasting the request that the electronic device beenabled to transmit or reflect positioning information comprisestransmitting a request that a second electronic device not be enabled totransmit positioning information.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theradar signal from the electronic device comprises one or more of: asingle tone on a radar band; an amplification of a received radiosignal; a modulation of a received radio signal; and a pulse on theradar band.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: broadcasting arequest based on the device identification information that a secondelectronic device be enabled to transmit or reflect positioninginformation using one or more radar techniques; receiving a radar signalfrom the second electronic device, the radar signal from the secondelectronic device indicating a position and/or velocity of the secondelectronic device in accordance with using the one or more radartechniques; and determining the positioning and/or velocity of thesecond electronic device based on the received signal from the secondelectronic device.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, afterdetermining the positioning and/or velocity of the electronic device,monitoring the positioning and/or velocity of the electronic device. 9.The method of claim 8, wherein monitoring the positioning and/orvelocity of the electronic device comprises: receiving a second radarsignal from the electronic device, the second radar signal indicatingpositioning of the electronic device in accordance with using the one ormore radar techniques; and determining whether the positioning and/orvelocity of the electronic device has changed based on the secondsignal.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after determiningthe positioning and/or velocity of the electronic device and inaccordance with a determination that the electronic device is affixed toa wall, disregarding detected activity beyond the electronic device. 11.The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining informationregarding an object to which the electronic device is affixed; andmonitoring movement of the object by utilizing the information regardingthe object and the determined positioning and/or velocity of theelectronic device.
 12. A method, comprising: at a radar- andwirelessly-enabled electronic device having one or more controllers andmemory: receiving, from a remote electronic device, a wirelesscommunication including device identification information and a requestto be enabled to transmit or reflect location information using a radartechnique; determining whether the received device identificationinformation matches device identification information for the electronicdevice; and in accordance with a determination that the received deviceidentification information matches the device identification informationfor the electronic device, causing a signal to be transmitted, thesignal indicating positioning and/or velocity of the electronic devicein accordance with using one or more radar techniques.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising receiving a radar signal from the remoteelectronic device; and wherein causing the signal to be transmittedcomprises modulating and reflecting the received radar signal such thata preset phantom velocity is present in the reflected signal.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising: prior to receiving the requestto be enabled, operating in a low power mode; and in accordance with thedetermination that the received device identification informationmatches the device identification information for the electronic device,operating in a radar mode, wherein operating in the radar mode consumesmore power than operating in the low power mode.
 15. A radar- andwirelessly-equipped electronic device, comprising: a first componentconfigured to communicate with one or more remote electronic devices viaa wireless communication protocol, the first component including: one ormore antennas configured to communicate at a first frequencycorresponding to the wireless communication protocol; and a firstcontroller coupled to the one or more antennas, the first controllerconfigured to govern the one or more antennas to communicate signals inaccordance with the wireless communication protocol; and a secondcomponent configured to convey positioning and/or velocity informationwith the one or more remote electronic devices using one or more radartechniques, the second component including: one or more second antennasconfigured to communicate via a radar band; and a radar controllercoupled to the one or more second antennas and the first controller, theradar controller being configured to govern the one or more secondantennas to communicate signals in accordance with the one or more radartechniques.
 16. The radar- and wirelessly-equipped electronic device ofclaim 15, wherein the first controller is further configured to: receivea command from a remote device via the one or more antennas; determinewhether the command was intended for the electronic device; inaccordance with a determination that the command was intended for theelectronic device, operate in accordance with the command; and inaccordance with a determination that the command was not intended forthe electronic device, disregard the command.
 17. The radar- andwirelessly-equipped electronic device of claim 16, wherein the commandcomprises a command to enable radar communication, and wherein the firstcontroller operating in accordance with the command comprises the firstcontroller causing the radar controller to be enabled.
 18. The radar-and wirelessly-equipped electronic device of claim 15, furthercomprising an energy storage component coupled to the first componentand the second component and configured to selectively provide power tothe first component and the second component.
 19. The radar- andwirelessly-equipped electronic device of claim 18, wherein the energystorage component includes: a capacitor; a battery; circuitry configuredto harvest energy from signals received via one of the first or secondantennas; and/or circuitry configured to harvest thermal, vibrational,electromagnetic, and/or solar energy received via the one of the firstor second antennas.
 20. The radar- and wirelessly-equipped electronicdevice of claim 15, wherein the second component further includes atleast one of: a modulator configured to modulate radio waves receivedvia the one or more second antennas; and a signal generator configuredto generate radio waves at a particular frequency.